Guardian Angel Vol 3: Days gone By
by Thedragoness821
Summary: What happened to Charlotte, and the rest of the group is finally revealed! I promise the story is better than the summary, I have never been too good at them. Rated M just to be safe. Focuses on Daryl/Charlotte but features all the characters we know and love.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 _Notes: OMG I know, right?! I know that was a sad ending, I know a lot of people are going to be sad about Beth's death. But we will get through it, I promise. I know it was hard, but not everyone can live, this is a harsh, world after all, and "no one is safe."_

Eastman was a simple man; he always had been, but the fall of the world and civilization as they knew it exacerbated that fact.

"Ready, Tabitha?" He asked his goat as he opened the door, but Tabitha hesitated, she seemed nervous and that could only mean two things, walkers, or a predator was in the area. He readied his rifle and peered out, he didn't see or hear any walkers, but he did hear barking. He ventured outside to see a large, black German shepherd come into view, doing his best to ward off three walkers that were bent on making him lunch.

Eastman had to act fast, he could shoot them, but that would just bring more. He grabbed his hunting knife and rushed out to help the poor dog.

The walkers were frail and emaciated, probably some of the first to be turned back when this whole mess began and he made quick work of them.

"Easy boy I'm not gonna hurt you, you hungry? I am vegan, I don't have much, but I can see what I can scare up." He said, but the dog wouldn't come to him, instead he ran a few feet in the opposite direction, and looked back, his glossy coat gleaming in the late fall sun.

This was no feral dog, someone _owned_ this dog, and someone loved him. The dog danced in place and threw an urgent look in the direction he had come. Eastman understood now.

"Hang on, let me put Tabitha inside and get my pack." He said as he grabbed the goat by the horns and led her inside, grabbing his pack and securing the door on the way out.

"Okay, let's go." He told the dog.

Eastman smelled it long before he saw it, the acrid smell of blood, rotting flesh and structures burning; the smell of war.

The dog led him to the end of the tree line, on the other side of the destroyed fence; he could see a body lying in the grass. Even from this distance, he could see half the poor girl's skull was missing and his heart sank.

"My friend, if this is your master, I am afraid there is nothing I can do." Eastman said to the dog, but the dog would not be deterred, he took hold of his pant leg and began literally dragging him toward the scene.

There was a male walker gnawing on what was once the girl's leg, there was a path in the grass where he had drug himself over to her body. Eastman put him down with one stab from his hunting knife and rolled him over to discover that both of his knees had been shot out.

Eastman felt a stab of empathy for the poor dog as he pawed at the remains of the girl.

"I'm sorry, buddy, but there is nothing we can do for her, she's dead." He said as he took hold of the corpse's wrist and began to pull.

"Oh … lord have mercy!" Eastman gasped as another body was revealed. _This_ was what the dog was trying to tell him. Eastman gently rolled the woman over and felt for a pulse, it was faint, but it was there, but she had lost a lot of blood, and they were a good ways from his cabin, he would have to carry her. He hoped she would make it.

* * *

By the grace of god, they didn't run into any walkers on, Eastman had a funny feeling the dog had a hand in that, regardless, he was thankful. He gently shifted her so he could open and close the door, trying to jostle her as little as possible. He gently laid her on the bed and hurried to fetch his first aid supplies and heat some water on the cook stove.

He had intended this cabin to be an off grid retreat from his hectic life in the city, and he thanked god he had the mental prowess to rig the well up using solar power. He filled a large iron pot with water and placed it on the cook stove.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I am going to have to remove your shirt, but I promise I am going to be as respectful as I possibly can." He said. Once the fabric was removed, he could see the wound where the bullet entered her body, but no exit wound, which meant the bullet was still in there somewhere, he prayed it wasn't in too deep.

He scooped out some of the now boiling water and used it to sanitize the tools he would need, on his way out here from the city when things started to go bad, he stopped by an abandoned emergency room and grabbed all he could.

"This is going to hurt, Miss, but that bullet has to come out." He said as he sterilized the wound site as best he could, and stuck the forceps into the hole. Apparently, there was still some life left in the tough little woman, because she woke up quick, and started to struggle, but he had tied her arms and legs to the four corner posts of the bed just in case something like this happened while he was trying to remove the bullet. He hated to do it, but it necessary in order to keep her as still as possible.

"Easy, Miss, I know it hurts, but I almost have it!" He said as the bullet came out with a horrible sucking sound.

"You're lucky this was a semi-automatic round and not buckshot." He said as he examined the bullet, it was still in one piece; he dropped it into the sink along with the forceps and cleaned the wound again with the astringent. He untied her arms and legs, dressed her in one of his shirts and covered her with a blanket, only time would tell if she would make it now.

* * *

Eastman awoke to sunlight streaming through the window of his bedroom, he and Tabitha had stayed in his room, he had locked the door just in case the poor woman didn't make it through the night. He tried to get the dog to come with them, but he refused to leave his master and laid down at the food of her bed.

Eastman grabbed his hunting knife and crept up to the door and listened, he didn't hear anything so he opened it cautiously and peered into the main room of the house. From his room, he could still see she hadn't moved from bed, maybe there was still hope. He walked slowly up to the side of the bed, knife ready, just in case, hoping he didn't have to bury yet another person.

He felt her forehead, a little warm but, it was a tad warm in here, thanks to the wood stove. He checked her pulse and hope rose within him as her pulse beat heartily against his fingers. She was still unconscious, but she was going to be _okay_.

"Good job, little girl. You rest now and wake up when you're ready." He said as he smoothed her hair back from her forehead.

A quiet bleat from Tabitha drew his attention.

"Okay, okay. I know, I overslept." He said as he gathered his gardening tools, the tomatoes and peppers should be ready and he didn't want the insects to get to them, the greenhouse was great for keeping out the cold and the other animals, but the insects were undeterred.

The worms did get to some of them, but all in all he got a good yield, and returned with a basket full of tomatoes, several different kinds of pepper, and a few carrots that were ready.

"Let's set these inside and see if I can't scare up some grub for that dog of hers, I can't imagine he would want to eat an oatmeal burger." Eastman said as he opened the door and slid the basket of vegetables inside, and tied Tabitha to her stake in the middle of the yard on his way out.

Luckily, he didn't have to go very far before he saw a nice, plump rabbit, that would do nicely.

"I'm sorry, my friend, but your sacrifice will feed another." He said as he pulled the trigger.

* * *

"I hope you enjoy this, because this wasn't easy for me, I don't like taking a life, _any_ life. If you guys are going to stay here for a while, as I suspect you will, then we're going to have to fine you some dog food." Eastman said as he set the place down in front of the huge German shepherd, who devoured the meat hungrily.

"You want to go out? You haven't taken a constitution all day." He said once the dog had finished eating, he perked up and ran to the door, his long bushy tail sweeping back and forth.

"Just don't go too far, you never know what's out there these days." He called after him.

Just then, he heard sounds and movement from the bed, it was the woman, she was awake, against all odds, she had made it. Eastman fetched some water from the pot on the stove and poured it into a glass.

"Easy now, don't gulp it, you'll make yourself sick." He said as he took it away from her.

"W-where am I?" She asked, her voice raspy from not being used and barely above a whisper.

"My name is Eastman, you have your dog to thank, he's the one who led me to you." He said, as if on que, he heard a scratching at the door. He opened it and the huge dog came bounding in like a puppy and washed the woman's face with his large, wet tongue.

"Do you remember anything?" Eastman asked her as he offered her more water.

"We had a homestead at the white house, a group attacked us, a guy … used to be in our group shot Beth, the bullet went right through her and hit me." She said, her pretty aquamarine eyes filled with pain as she remembered it like it happened yesterday.

Her memories suddenly came flooding back to her as her eyes widened in panic.

"Did you find anyone else?!" She asked as she tried to sit up.

"No, just you and that poor other girl." He said as he gently pushed her back against the pillow.

"Good." She said with a satisfied smile as she relaxed again. "That means they got out."

"They?" Eastman quipped.

"The rest of my group, I was afraid that might have stayed and tried to help me, but they didn't, they left, they did the right thing, that's what I hoped they did." She said.

"That's a very selfless way to look at it." Eastman said as he put a hand on her shoulder.

"They are like my family, they're a pain in the ass sometimes, but I love them." She said with a shrug and a grin as her eyes grew heavy once more.

"Oh …. I never caught your name, I'm Charlotte." She said as she slid her open hand to the edge of the bed.

"Eastman." He said as he gently shook it.

"Thanks for saving me, you didn't have to do that."

Eastman chuckled. "Thank your dog, he wasn't going to have it any other way.

"Yeah, I know, he's a good boy. When I get better I will do the hunting for him, I know you don't like to kill any living thing, I heard you talking about it this morning." She said with a wry smile.

Eastman shrugged. "I believe all life is precious."

"I can respect that, tell you what, until I can get out there again, if you bring them, I'll clean them."

"Deal." Eastman said with a grin.

 _Notes: I liked Eastman, but I didn't like the whole thing they did with Morgan, so I decided to change it up a little. I hope you all like it. This was very hard for me to write! I am not sure why, but I struggled with it a lot._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 _Notes: Remember, this is Daryl and the group's POV, so as far as they know, both Beth AND Charlotte were killed. Of course, we as the audience know that is not the case ^_~_

Four months had passed since the events at the White House, things had returned to a state of normalcy … for the most part. They had found an abandoned rock quarry just on the other side of the West Virginia state line, nestled in a valley of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

They had since finished off the remainder of the jarred goods they had brought with them, but the area was rugged and remote, and not many walkers could make their way down this way, and the wildlife figured that out, so the hunting was plentiful.

Every hunting trip, Daryl would bring back a nice, fat turkey, deer, or elk. But he would be in only long enough to drop off his kill, clean it, and he would venture back out again without a word to anyone.

Daryl loved hunting, when it was just him and the wilderness, he could lose himself and almost forget his pain. It had been like that since Charlotte and Beth were killed. Rick couldn't remember the last time he and Daryl had spoken, and he hadn't turned up for any of the committee meetings.

Maggie had recovered as well as anyone could after losing their only sister, and Glenn's loving support was instrumental in that. Rick also had a feeling that they were the reason Daryl couldn't stand to be around the group anymore, he just couldn't stand seeing the sight of a loving couple right now; the wounds were still just too fresh.

Rick didn't know how right he was.

The sight of them made Daryl angry, and at the same time, filled him with so much grief that it made him physically sick. He hurriedly skinned and cleaned the carcass; he couldn't get out of there fast enough. He was so tired of people asking how he was doing that he seriously considered shanking the next person who uttered the offending phrase, and he went off on so many people that most were afraid to approach him anymore.

Except a few core members of the group, Rick being one of them, and speak of the devil. Daryl heard the law man's familiar voice calling his name and he groaned out loud, composed himself, and turned around.

"I'm not going to ask you how you are doing, I know you're going through hell, I've been there, remember?" Daryl didn't say anything, but he wouldn't meet his gaze.

"No one is going to tell you how long you should take to grieve Daryl, only you can answer that. But just know people ask, because they care about you." Rick said as he turned and walked away.

Daryl said nothing in response, but he mulled their conversation over in his head as he finished cleaning the deer carcass. He certainly wasn't over her death, and he wasn't sure if he ever would be. It was like a piece of his soul had been ripped out that day, and he knew that nothing would be able to fill it; she was his first and only true love. Daryl chuckled humorlessly to himself, at how cheesy and cliché that sounded, if Merle were here he would kick him in the ass and call him a pussy.

* * *

"How is he?" Maggie asked as Rick joined her and Glenn at the supper table that evening.

Rick blew out a haggard sigh. "Same as before, he's not healing, Maggie. It's like a piece of him died that day." I worry about him, he might not ever be the same again.

Maggie looked over at Daryl, who was off by himself fashioning arrows with his back to the group, a sad look crossed her face.

Michonne suddenly slammed her silverware down with a loud clatter, causing everyone at the quiet table to jump. "Enough of this shit!" She said as she grabbed a plate of food and strode over to him.

If Daryl heard her coming, which she was sure he did, he didn't show it, he continued whittling away at the branch in his hand.

"Look, I know what you are going through, everyone in this whole fucking _group_ knows, we've _all_ lost people, you're not the only one! I know you're mad as hell at everyone and everything, because that's your MO, that's how you operate. You get hurt, you push people away. People try to get close, you push them away. You _tried_ that with Charlotte, but it didn't work, because as far as stubbornness goes, you met your match in her." Michonne said as a sad, nostalgic smile crossed her face as she thought of her friend.

Daryl suddenly rounded on her, his once bright blue eyes glistening with tears.

"You think you know?! You don't know SHIT!" He spat in response, brandishing the knife in his hand as he gestured angrily.

"And do you think this is what Charlotte would want for you? Going along on autopilot, pushing away everyone who cares about you?"

"DON'T YOU … DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT WHAT SHE'D WANT!" He choked out through the lump forming in his throat as he advanced on her, Michonne drew her sword, just in case she needed to defend herself.

"You think you're the _only_ one who is grieving over her death? She was one of _my_ best friends! Michonne bit back, gesturing to herself with her sword for emphasis.

Daryl let out an animalistic roar as he charged at her and took a swipe at her with his knife, she easily dodged his attack and hit him (albeit as lightly as she could) square in the back with the hilt of her sword, causing him to do a face plant in the fresh snow.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rick, Glenn and a few others rise from their places at the table to lend assistance, she waved them off.

"You go right on ahead and attack me if it makes you feel better, get it all out, all that anger, all that grief that you've been holding in all these months." Michonne said as Daryl staggered to his feet, breathing hard from the emotions threatening to spill out of him.

"I shoulda killed him when I had the chance! If I had, he wouldn't …" Daryl trailed off as his legs buckled under him and he fell to his knees, the knife falling from his hand onto the snow next to him with a soft _plop_.

"… But _Rick_ … he … he just wanted to kick him out! If I had just killed him …" He trailed off as all the pain and anguish he had been holding in since the incident happened came flooding out and he wept, he didn't give a fuck anymore if anyone saw him.

Michonne knelt down next to him and put her hand on his shoulder, tears stinging her own eyes.

"I know how deeply you loved her, Daryl. That was obvious to everyone, regardless how much you tried to hide it." She said, smiling through her tears as she nudged him playfully.

"But, you have to move on eventually, because staying stuck like this, it's gonna kill you, believe me, I know, I've been there. Now, that doesn't mean you forget her, because let's face it, that little Pirate, she was one in a million, she was the kind of person that resonates in your soul. There ain't no forgetting her." She said as she smiled reassuringly at him.

"Now, what do you say we pick ourselves up and get some grub?" She said as she stood and offered her hand.

Daryl stared at her hand for what seemed like a fortnight, his eyes narrowed into a guarded expression for a split second before he nodded and allowed her to help him to his feet.

The wounds still stung, as they probably always would; but he felt better than he had in a long time as he walked with Michonne to the table.

* * *

"Charlotte, I know I'm no doctor, but I have to say, your ability to heal so rapidly is … amazing!" Eastman said as she removed the last set of bandages she would need.

"I still really wish you would stay, I'm not as young as I used to be and I could really use the help."

Charlotte smiled sadly at him. "I wish I could stay, I really do. I love this place, but there is someone out there that I have to find."

"Ahhh yes, your man." Eastman replied with an understanding smile.

"I hope you understand." Charlotte said as she held out her hand.

"Of course I do, that kind of love is a special thing, especially in this hellish world." He said as they shook.

"Thanks, Eastman, for everything. I know there is nothing I can do to repay you for saving me, and nursing me back to health."

"No need to thank me, all life is precious, remember? I couldn't just leave you lying there to die, besides, your dog wasn't going to take no for an answer." Eastman said with a chuckle. "Besides, I have thoroughly enjoyed your company, both of you." He said as he smiled down at Gavin.

"Here, I have something for you." Eastman said as he handed her a back pack that had some weight to it.

Charlotte opened it to find supplies, food, first aid kit, and loads of survival supplies.

"Consider it a parting gift." Eastman said with a warm smile.

Charlotte's eye grew misty and she suddenly dashed at Eastman and threw her arms around his neck.

"Thank you, Eastman, for everything." She said as she released him.

"You better get going, now, you don't have much daylight this time of year." Eastman said as he sniffled and did his best to swallow the lump in his throat.

Charlotte gave him a final smile and a wave as she left, Eastman watched her through the window, sadness enveloped him as he watched her as she gave a final goodbye pat to Tabitha, and disappeared into the tree line of the forest that surrounded his home.

Eastman was suddenly aware of the heavy veil of sadness that hung over him as he stared at the spot where she had disappeared, her footprints slowly being erased by the newly falling snow. The tough little one eyed woman had grown on him, and they had grown into close friends in the short months she had been here.

"Good luck, little girl." I hope you find your family." He said.

* * *

Charlotte wasn't sure how long she had walked; she didn't imagine it was far in the ever deepening snow. She needed to find a vehicle, and soon. But first, she needed to fine somewhere to stay for the night, luckily, the cold weather she loathed served really well to slow down the walkers, most she was able to skirt right past with even being noticed.

It was almost dark by the time she reached town, she decided on what used to be a general store, all the windows were boarded up and it had a sturdy iron cage in front of the door that, by the grace of god, was open. The door was locked, but the rusty aging lock gave way with a quick jimmy from her crow bar.

She crept in, pausing at the door entrance to allow her eyes time to adjust to the darkness, she didn't hear anything, but that didn't mean she was alone, either. She fished an LED flashlight out of the pack Eastman had given her and scanned the store, her hunch was right, she was alone, no walkers, and more importantly, no living humans.

Charlotte closed the iron cage behind her and used a chain she always kept in her pack to secure it, she rolled out her sleeping bag in the middle of the floor, shivering against the cold that seeped in from outside. She wriggled into it with all her winter clothes still on, wishing Daryl was here to keep her warm with his body heat. A tear slid down her cheek as she thought of him.

' _Don't worry, you will find him.'_ A voice inside her head told her, she prayed it was right, because in this world, the odds of finding anyone once you were separated were small, this wasn't the age of cell phones and GPS tracking anymore.

She blew out a sigh, her breath hanging silvery in the air above her as she wiped her tears away. She _would_ find him, but for now, she was once again on her own.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Cold winter sunlight filtering through the gaps in the boarded windows of the former general store roused Charlotte from her restless slumber. Last night had been a cold one and even with a plush sleeping bag and Gavin's body heat, she had still frozen her ass off, she slowly sat up with a groan, feeling like she hadn't even slept.

She stretched and gathered her belongings. "Ready?" She asked the huge German shepherd, is stared unblinkingly at her, his long tail slowly wafting back and forth, their breath hung silvery in the still, cold air of the store.

Charlotte wrenched the door open and was met by a small avalanche of fresh powder as it poured in through the doorway. "Son of a bitch!" She cursed to herself, by the looks of it, about a foot or more had fallen overnight and it she knew the going would be tough.

Then, she remembered there was a shed out back, behind the store, maybe lady luck would smile on her and there would be skis, or a pair of snow shoes that would at least make the going easier until she could commandeer a vehicle. It was times like this she missed Georgia; sure they got snow, but not this much.

She kicked away the snow from in front of the door and threw it open, her machete drawn and the holster to her dessert eagle unclipped, just in case as a small gust of damp, musty air hit her. She waited for her eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness inside the shed, but Gavin's behavior told her the place was devoid of anyone, living, or dead.

The shed was typical, with a work counter that skirted around three sides, various tools, now rusted from lack of use hung on the walls. Charlotte's heart leapt in anticipation as her eyes fell on a large item covered by an old canvas military tarp.

"Sweet Jesus!" She exclaimed as she ripped it off to reveal a snowmobile, it looked to be in mint condition … NOW she was cooking with some oil, as her brother used to say. She dipped a rod into the tank and discovered it was full and the keys were still in it, she prayed the battery wasn't corroded.

She turned the key and the engine coughed and sputtered, but didn't turn over. She expected as much, it was cold and who knows how long the thing had been sitting unused. She pumped the throttle and pushed the choke in and turned the key, again, the machine coughed and sputtered for a little longer this time before dying.

The third time would be the charm, she just could feel it, she pushed the choke in again and turned the key and this time, the snowmobile reluctantly roared to life. It gave a few sputtering coughs and a couple of backfires before finally settling down to run smoothly.

As the machine warmed up, she fashioned a harness for Gavin out of some scrap rope she found, the machine had a cargo rack in the back, the guy probably used it to carry his kills when he went out hunting. Gavin leapt lightly onto the back of the machine and she fed the excess rope through both sides of the rack and secured it with a quick release not, just in case they had to leave the machine and make a quick escape.

"Let's motor." She said as she shifted the machine into first gear and pulled out for the road.

* * *

The snowmobile ran well for as long as it had been sitting, charlotte suspected that it was in need of a tune up and an oil change. The other downside was there was no protection from the elements, and the journey was cold and miserable as hell. She pulled to a stop and took out the map of the area she had taken from the store.

"According to this, there is a small town about five miles ahead." She said to Gavin, who panted lightly in reply, his breath silvery in the fading light of the short winter day. Another good thing about having a dog with her is she could talk to herself without looking completely batshit crazy.

She dreaded heading into any kind of town or city, but she needed new winter clothes, as hers were almost ready to disintegrate right off her body.

"If we hurry, we might be able to make it before dark." She said as she revved the throttle.

Charlotte coasted into town just as the last of the daylight relinquished to the impending darkness, there was no moon tonight, and it was getting dark fast. She decided on a small hunting supply store, the door was boarded up, but nothing a quick jimmy with her crow bar couldn't handle. She tapped the door frame with the handle of her machete and waited, and listened.

Then she heard it, the hoarse growls, the shuffling gaits, there was a walker in there somewhere, and it was heading for her.

"Come on, fresh meat, right here." She said as she whistled softly the way one would to call a frightened dog. Sure enough, not one, but two walkers stumbled out of the store, slow and stiff due to the cold and she made quick work of them. Charlotte waited a few more minutes before she determined that they were the only ones in the store, she studied their half-eaten bodies and imagined that they were probably victims of a passing herd.

The store was surprisingly well stocked, all the firearms were gone, as she suspected they would be, but a large amount of canned goods, and MRE's were still on the shelves. She went to the clothing section and praised god when she found it to also be well stocked, she stripped off her filthy, tattered clothes and redressed as quickly as she could, everything was men's clothes, but it was warm and dry.

She discarded her tattered, worn boots for a pair of insulated snow boots and neoprene weatherproof socks. She also found a couple of extra sleeping bags that she could at least use to keep warm tonight.

She and Gavin snuggled into their nest, warm for the first time since they had left Eastman's house. The sound of a distant owl hooting from somewhere in the surrounding woods lulled Charlotte into a deep, restful sleep.

* * *

Charlotte awoke suddenly with a start and panicked for a moment in the cold darkness of the store, without a moon, it was hard to tell the time, but if she had to guess, it was probably still a few hours before sunrise.

Suddenly wide awake, she sat up as her vision adjusted to the darkness, next to her, she could see the outline of Gavin's body, his head was up and his ears were swiveling around like satellite dishes.

Charlotte reached for her holster and pulled out her dessert eagle and walked to the boarded window as quietly as she could. Sure enough, it was someone messing with her snowmobile, probably trying to figure out how to hotwire it, since she had taken the keys.

"You'd better fucking stop what you're doing, unless you want to know what bullets taste like." She called through the boarded window, the man jumped like a cat that just had its tail stepped on and put his hands in the air.

"I'm sorry! I just … it's just me, and my wife and two girls … the snow's gotten so deep … they are too small to walk through it …" He trailed off.

"Well, you best keep looking, because this one's taken." Charlotte replied dismissively, but the man's plight pulled at the one shred of humanity she still had in her, but she had a mission to find her group, and that machine was her only means of transportation.

"I'll tell you what, I am leaving here at first light, this place is well stocked, there are clothes and food, you can have this place after I leave. BUT … if I see you again while I'm still here I'll kill you, understand?" The man nodded graciously and backed out of sight, his hands still in the air.

Charlotte waited thirty minutes after the man had left before she started gathering her things, no WAY was she going to wait and leave when she told him, that's how people get fucked over in this world. She walked out to her snowmobile and found that he had pulled a piece of the body casing off, exposing several wires.

"Dumbass, he was going to try to hotwire with the wrong set of wires." She said as she replaced the casing as Gavin took his place behind her. She started the machine up and was off into the cold, snowy predawn.

* * *

Charlotte smelled it before she saw it, even in this cold weather, a herd, hundreds strong had descended on what used to be a small strip center, some were clawing at what was once a dollar store, which could only mean one thing, that people were inside.

Charlotte put her thumb on the throttle, she toyed with the idea of leaving those poor saps to whatever fate awaited them, but that one shred of humanity in her caused her to hesitate and before she knew what she was doing, she was speeding toward the herd as it turned toward the sound of her machine.

"HEY! Over here, you ugly sumbitches!" She said as she fired a shot from her gun to get the attention of every walker. With a collective growl, they all turned toward her.

The cold made them slow, so it was slow going, even in first gear, she had to stop and wait for them to catch up a little before moving again, to keep their interest.

After she was sure she had taken them out far enough, she hit the throttle and made a huge circle back around the strip center.

There were still a few stragglers that didn't take the bait, but she made quick work of them with her machete.

She approached the dollar store with her gun drawn.

"Anyone in there?" She called, careful to stay out of the line of fire.

No response came, but the door slowly opened and a woman about her age exited, holding her hands above her head.

"My name is Melanie Davenport, I was a corporal with the national guard. We were deployed with things first got really bad and everything just …. Fell apart." She said, still keeping her hands where Charlotte could see them, Charlotte took notice of the nine millimeter at the woman's hip that she made no attempt to go for.

"How many of you are in there?" Charlotte asked as she kept her weapon trained on the woman.

"It's just me, and my staff Sargent, we got overrun and we were the only two survivors." She said.

"Show me. You first." Charlotte replied as she gestured toward the store entrance with her dessert eagle.

Charlotte and the woman named Melanie stepped into the dark store, the smell of moldy bread and spoiled perishables filled Charlotte's nostrils as she waited for her eyes to adjust.

"Nick, come on out, we have company." Melanie said.

A tall, slender man with large, kind hazel eyes and a bronzed complexion came to meet them.

"Name's Sargent Nicolas Barr, thanks for doing that, you saved our asses." He said as he offered his hand.

Charlotte looked to the man's outstretched hand, then down at Gavin, the dog leaned forward and gave the man one, long sniff, then looked to Charlotte as if to say _'He's okay.'_

"Well, if my dog ain't got a problem with you, than I guess you're okay in my book." Charlotte said as she shook their hands.

"Have you guys eaten? I have some MRE's I took from a hunting supply store a ways back." Charlotte said as she reached into her pack and handed them two bags.

They moved to the back of the store to start a fire, that way there was less chance of being seen by walkers … or living people.

Charlotte found some matches and lighter fluid, and used some charcoal to start a fire. They used snow to boil water and ate their MRE's in comfortable silence as the last of the daylight faded.

"Let's all get some sleep, Gavin here will let us know if something is amiss." Charlotte said as she rolled out her sleeping bag and snuggled into it.

Nick and Melanie looked at each other.

"You sure?" Nick asked.

Charlotte opened her eye and smiled at him.

"He is the reason I stayed alive by myself, you can trust him, he was a police dog before shit got bad. I found him wondering around, trying to survive back in Georgia; he still has his police collar on.

Nick chuckled as he lay back in his sleeping bag. "You don't say."

"Yep, I am sure he and his master were deployed same as ya'll were and got overrun. Poor dude was starving when I found him, just a bag of bones." Charlotte said as she scratched the dog behind the ears.

"Well, then I guess that makes three of us who are lucky you came along." Nick said with a laugh.

"Best get some sleep; we're going to be heading out early tomorrow, before that herd decides to make its way back here." Charlotte said through a huge yawn, she suddenly found herself exhausted; being alone wasn't conducive to sleep and it wore, even on an insomniac like her.

At least for now, she had some company, she hoped that when she found Rick and the others, that she could convince him to let them into their group.

 _Notes: The next chapter will be Daryl and the group, I promise ^_^ I will try to alternate between chapters. As always, please, please review, it really means a lot to me when you do, and I really do try my best to take your wishes into account when I write._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 _Notes: To those who complained that Charlotte trusts to easily and Daryl "got over her" too quickly, remember Charlotte has Gavin, and those of you who have dogs probably know that dogs are really good judges of character. As for Daryl "getting over" her, this chapter is for you ^_^_

Daryl awoke in the stillness of the early morning, his shivering breath hung silvery in the still, cold air; last night's bed had been a sleeping bag on the hard floor of a deer stand. It was so cold this morning that it made it hard to breathe, even the sun was slow to wake as it reluctantly made its appearance over the mountains.

It had snowed all day yesterday, but Mother Nature had taken pity on him and the fact that the deer stand offered little shelter from the elements, and the sky had cleared by night fall. The downside to this, however was that the temperature had plummeted to well below zero. As Daryl prepared to make the decent and head back to camp, he heard a noise in the forest, just inside the tree line, out of his line of sight.

He waited, keeping still and silent, it wasn't a walker, there was no shuffling gait or telltale groans, which meant it had to be some kind of animal, Daryl readied his crossbow, and waited for it to make its appearance.

It was a bull elk in all his splendor, but it was his color that took Daryl's breath away, he was such a pure shade of white that the surrounding snow seemed dull in comparison. Daryl lowered his crossbow, he knew the code, he had heard the stories the Indians used to tell, about how grave misfortune befell anyone who killed a white animal and being the superstitious man he was, he wasn't about to tempt fate.

Besides, Charlotte wouldn't have wanted him to. The grief and sadness pierced his heart and soul like an icicle as his eyes welled up with tears. He put on a good front for the group, but he wasn't over her, not by a longshot, and he didn't know if he ever would be. He had never loved anyone so completely in his life, because he had never let anyone get close, and he never would again.

Then, as if sensing his thoughts, the elk craned his head back and looked directly into Daryl's eyes. His eyes were a piercing blue and Daryl could swear he could feel them boring into his soul, exposing all the pain, anguish, and grief. The elk took a few deep sniffs and exhaled, his silvery breath lingering in front of him, adding to his majesty. Then, in three elegant leaps, he disappeared into the snowy forest landscape; it was then Daryl released the breath he didn't even realize he was holding.

* * *

"Anything?" Rick asked Daryl as he returned.

"Nothin' but a bunch of rabbits, too cold for anything else to be wonderin' around." Daryl replied as he gave the rabbits to Michonne and Maggie.

"How ya doin'?" Rick said, then braced for the onslaught of anger and hostility that question usually produced.

Daryl's bright blue eyes flashed with anger for a split second, but he merely shrugged. "As as anyone I guess." He said flatly.

Rick nodded to Daryl as he watched him walk away; he felt a pang of empathy for the man. Even in his walk it was clear, he had lost a piece of himself that day, a piece he would never get back.

* * *

Daryl started back out before sunrise, and before even Rick was awake. He had always found comfort and peace in the solitude of the wilderness, even more so now that there was no one for him to come home to anymore. He had wanted to go back, after things had died down, and Rick had to knock him unconscious to stop him.

The day had gotten warm enough for last night's snow to start to melt and Daryl estimated it might get close to forty today, if they didn't get any new snowfall, the snow would be fully melted by the weekend. It was late February, and winter was slowly beginning to lose its grip on the landscape.

It was then he heard it, distant shouting and sounds of a commotion drifted over the still winter air. Without even thinking about it, he took off into a full run towards the origin of the sound. He could smell them before he saw them, even in the cold weather, that was the one bad thing about winter ending, is that the warmer it got, the more mobile the walkers got, as well.

It wasn't a huge herd, but it was enough to overpower two men and back them up against a fence at an old Walmart distribution center.

"HEY!" Daryl bellowed as he burst through the tree line. "Over here, you ugly sumbitches!" He said, the entire herd turned toward him with a collective groan. Daryl skipped along the fence, scrapping his hunting knife back and forth.

"That's it, come on, fresh fuckin' meat right here." He said as he lured them away from the two men. "Hey! You got shit in your drawers or what?! Get over the fuckin' fence!" Daryl bellowed as he kicked the fence to antagonize the walkers and keep their attention.

The two men clamored over the fence and landed in a heap at the bottom. "Oh god! Thank you! We'd have been dead for sure if you hadn't happened along!" One of them said as he stood up only to come face to face with the point of an arrow.

"Awww Geeze!" He said, his voice quivering as both of them put their hands in the air.

"Look! We don't mean any harm! We were on a scouting mission and got overrun!" The other man said.

"Scouting mission? You from a group?" Daryl asked his finger tightened around the trigger of the crossbow.

"Yes! Yes but it's not what you think! This is a township! A community with good people! It's called Alexandria! We are scouts! Our job is to go out and find people! People like you that know how to live and survive so you can teach others!" The first man said, Daryl noticed his hands were beginning to shake, he imagined from fear. These weren't killers, hell, he didn't even think they could kill a rabbit, even if they had to.

"Name's Daryl." He said as he lowered his crossbow and slung it back over his shoulder.

"I'm Aaron, and this is Eric. Pleased to meet you, even if it is under these circumstances." Aaron said with a nervous laugh, trying to break the tension between the three men. Daryl said nothing as he led the way.

"Wait … where are we going? Our town is back that way." Eric said as he had to almost trot to keep up with Daryl's pace.

"Our group leader, Rick's gonna wanna talk to you." Daryl said expressionlessly as he trudged on.

"Group?" you mean there's … more of you?" Aaron said.

"You're gonna have to talk to Rick." Daryl repeated coldly, and the two men thought it best not to push the subject, and elected to make the remainder of the trip in silence.

* * *

"Rick!" Daryl bellowed at the law man from fifty feet away, Rick turned around and his hand instinctually went to his .357, ever present at his hip when he saw Daryl wasn't alone.

"What the hell is this, Daryl?" Rick said in a low voice as others in the group started to take notice of the two strangers in Daryl's company.

"Tell em what you told me." Daryl said as he grabbed hold of Aaron's arm and thrusted him forward before Rick.

"We have a town, a community called Alexandria. Eric and I are scouts, we go out and look for people, people who know how to survive, people like you all." He said as he looked around the group as it gathered around. Their hunch was right, these were tough people, and they looked like they had been through a lot.

"Why don't you sit tight while we talk it over?" Rick said as he motioned for the group to huddle in.

"I say let's do it, if things turn out bad, we can handle ourselves." Michonne said.

"I agree, let's give it a shot." Maggie agreed

"Hell yeah! Fuck it, what we got to lose?" Abraham thundered, a huge smile on his face.

Rick laughed in spite of himself as he returned to the two men.

"Lead the way." He said.

* * *

Rick and the others were speechless as the person on watch opened the gate for Eric and Aaron and they followed them inside. It was like the apocalypse never happened; there were houses, well-manicured yards, and people walking down the street, just like back when the world was right.

Daryl and Rick shared a suspicious look as Aaron stopped and turned around.

"You're going to have to speak with Deanna, that's her house, the largest one at the end of the street on the left, just knock, she is expecting you." He said as he left their company.

"Well, let's get this over with." Abraham said as he pushed passed everyone and walked toward the large house at the end of the street. Daryl shrugged as he and the others followed him, Rick brought up the rear, a pained look on his face.

Abraham and Daryl walked up the porch stairs, and the door to the house opened before they even got a chance to knock. Out stepped a woman of about sixty or so, with brown jaw length hair and a soft, friendly expression.

"Ahhh yes, Rick is it? Please! Come in." She said as she motioned for all of them to come inside.

"My name is Deanna Monroe, and this is my husband, Reginald." She said as everyone shook hands.

"Please to meet all of you, you can call me Reg, everyone does." Her husband said, he seemed like a genuine, friendly man with good intentions … then again … so did a lot of people. As the group exchanged pleasantries, they heard the door slam behind them.

"Ahh! That must be Aiden and Spencer. Come into the living room, boys, I have some people I want you to meet." Deanna said.

Two young men entered, they were filthy and they looked exhausted.

"It's getting bad out there, mom. We can hardly get near the city anymore." One of them said, Rick assumed he was the older of the two brothers.

"Well, You aren't going to have to worry about that anymore, boys, I would like you do meet Rick Grimes and his group." Aaron and Eric met up with them on a scouting mission after Daryl saved them from being overrun." Deanna said as she gestured to Daryl, who suddenly found himself wishing he could disappear.

"It's nice to meet all of you, boy we could sure use the help of someone who knows how it is out there." Spencer said as he and his brother shook all of their hands.

"Now, you all must be exhausted," Deanna said as she picked up her radio. "go for Olivia."

After a moment, a woman's voice came over the line. "Yes ma'am."

"Please come over to my house, I have some new arrivals that need a place to stay." Deanna said.

"Be right there." The other voice said as the radio went dead.

"Olivia will show you the houses we have available, you all can decide amongst yourselves and take your pick." Deanna said as she flashed them all a friendly, warm smile.

As if on que, they heard a knock at the door.

"It's open, Olivia." Deanna called, a short, heavy set woman with thick, dark rimmed glasses made her appearance. Her shoulder length hair was pulled back into a messy bun.

"Olivia, I would like you to meet Rick and his group, they have been on the outside, trying to survive for some time now, please show them to the houses we have available and make them feel welcome, they have been through a lot." Deanna said as she motioned for them to follow her.

"Here they are, I know they mostly look the same, this was a sub-division, and they are usually all about conformity." Olivia said as she gestured to a row of houses, she was right, they did look the same, at least on the outside.

"You all can talk amongst yourselves which ones you want. I'm Olivia by the way, I run the armory and the pantry. If you need anything, just ask." She said as she nodded awkwardly to them and left them to it.

"Well?" Rick asked as he looked to his group.

"I think I'm gonna take that one, I'm too tired to give a shit anyway." Abraham said as he strode to the first house, Michonne chuckled as she took the one next to it, then so on and so forth until there was only one left.

"Well … I guess this one is ours." Rick said to Carl.

"First one to the door gets the shower first!" Carl said suddenly as he shoved his father back and took off at a run toward the house.

"Hey! …" Rick yelled as he took off after his son.

Daryl tossed his gear carelessly onto the sofa and trudged wearily to the bathroom, peeling his clothes off as he went. He turned the shower on and was surprised to find hot water coming out of the hot side of the tap. He turned on the cold water just enough so that the water didn't scald his skin and stepped under the water with a satisfied sigh. He could feel all the stress and tension washing away with the layers of grime, and dirt as he reached for the soap.

He knew he couldn't stay in there long, they had to conserve water and power, so he cleansed himself and shut the water off. He pulled back the curtain and reached for a towel, feeling better than he could remember feeling in a long time.

But it was still there, that ache that penetrated straight to his very soul, the ache from the hole in his soul they Charlotte's death left. Andrea had been right, the hurt never goes away, you really do just make room for it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Well … it's not a Mercedes, but it beats the hell out of walking." Nick said, referring to the rust bucket of a car they had found on the side of the road. The three of them had bet their stashes of chocolate that Charlotte wouldn't be able to get it going.

Although Charlotte loved her chocolate, she mainly did it to prove them wrong, that and this piece of crap was the best looking vehicle they had passed in a long time. Other than replacing the battery, most of her fixes were Jerry rigged, she wasn't going to spend too much time on it, they could always commandeer another vehicle if this one gave out.

But it hadn't given out, it just kept on fighting, just like they did. Charlotte sighed and looked out the dingy window as they passed through yet another town, its name long forgotten. Then, something caught her eye.

"Hey, hold up!" She said, Nick slammed on the brake, throwing them all forward.

"Wha…?" He started to ask, but he didn't even get the words out before Charlotte was out of the car and jogging up the embankment of an overpass.

Then he saw what she was looking at, an overturned hummer hanging half way off the bridge, more military vehicles were piled around the overturned one … and they were armory vehicles. With any luck, they might have something left.

But that wasn't what caught Charlotte's eye, there was a male walker impaled on a protruding piece of the ruined guard rail, draped over his shoulder was rocket launcher.

"Hey … look at this!" Nick said as he opened the back of the nearest hummer and discovered cases upon cases of missiles.

"Wonder where the launcher is?" Mel quipped.

"It's not that, is it?" Charlotte called over her shoulder.

"Yeah, I'd have to look at it up close to be sure, but it looks like it, son of a bitch, but how are we going to get it?"

Charlotte blew out a frustrated sigh, there was no way to climb out and get it, the dilapidated railing would never support both hers and the walker's weight, even if she was the lightest of the three of them.

Then, it was as if the universe decided to take pity on them, and they heard the sickening sound of flesh tearing, and bones breaking. The walker, who had probably been there since the beginning of this whole mess had started to decay, his shoulder finally gave way and he fell twenty feet to the pavement below with a sickening splat; leaving the rocket launcher hanging where he had been impaled, just begging for them to take it.

"Charlotte, no! you don't know if it will hold your weight, and it'd not worth it!" Mel said as she grabbed her arm.

"Come on, you make it sound like I weigh three hundred pounds." Charlotte replied as she pulled out of Mel's grip.

She slowly began inching her way out to where the weapon hung, swinging gently in the wind, beckoning her. She could hear the aging steel creaking under her weight, she was now close enough to brush the strap with the tips of her fingers ... just a little further.

"Aha! Got it!" She exclaimed as her small hand closed around the strap, just then, the rusted steel gave way with a mighty groan, pitching her over the side of the overpass. She screwed her eye shut, waiting for the impact her body would make on the pavement below, knowing she probably wouldn't survive it, but the impact never came, she opened her eye and the face of Nick came into view, he had rushed forward and grabbed her wrist just in time.

"You're one crazy bitch, you know that?" He said as he and Mel pulled her up.

"I'm just lucky you have such quick reflexes." She said as she tossed the rocket launcher to him. "I'm going to see if I can get this hummer started, it'll be easier than trying to cram all this artillery into the car." She said as she raised the hood and found the engine to be in surprisingly good condition, she might be able to start it.

"Come on, baby." She said as she rubbed the two wires together, the engine sputtered a few times before reluctantly roaring to life.

"Let's see what the other vehicles have and then lets book it before another herd … or other people show up." Charlotte said.

* * *

The other vehicles had been well stocked, Charlotte couldn't believe no one had come across them, she figured the place had been overrun before and that was what had kept people away, and the walkers moved on, and people never came back, maybe there _weren't_ any people left _to_ come back. they had packed all they could into the hummer and took off before anyone ... or anything came upon them.

"It'll be getting dark soon, we'd better find a place to stay, I don't think we'll make it to the next town." Nick said.

"Pull off here." Charlotte said, glancing up from the map and pointing to an unmarked gravel road, Nick flashed her a peculiar look in the rear view mirror, but complied.

"Oh!" Mel said as the road led them to an old limestone quarry. The melting snow from the mountains had filled the basin with fresh, clean water, and the surrounding terrain was rugged, and difficult to traverse.

"You know. I think with a few personal touches, we could hold up here for a while if we had to." Nick said as he surveyed the area.

"Looks like someone already did." Mel said as she came across a fire pit, w pretty well built one, too.

' _Just like the ones Daryl used to build.'_ Charlotte thought as a sharp stab or pain pierced her heart and soul, and tears welled up in her eye. Then her heart swelled with hope, if he _had_ built it, it couldn't be more than three months since they used it, so that meant they weren't far behind them.

"Hey, you okay?" Mel asked, noticing Charlotte's sudden change in mood.

"My group, I think it was them who was here." Charlotte said, her eye still on the fire pit.

"My man, this is how he did his fire pits, just like this, right down to the way the rocks are stacked." She said as she knelt down and traced her fingers over it.

"Look, I don't mean to dash your hopes or anything, but this is how I make my fire pits, too. Anyone with survival, or wilderness training knows how to make them like this." Nick said, Mel elbowed him hard in the ribs and mouthed at him to shut up. Let the poor lady have a shred of hope, for god's sake.

Charlotte stood and turned to him.

"You can believe what you want, but I KNOW he made this." She said as she walked back to the vehicle.

"Geeze, you never know when to shut that big mouth of yours, do you?" Mel said as she eyed him harshly.

"What?! All I said was the truth, you know it's true, we both make our fire pits like that, it's the way ANYONE with survival training does it!"

"I know! But you didn't have to TELL her that!" Mel said as she walked off in a huff to join Charlotte, who was readying the vehicle for them to sleep in tonight.

"If they were here, that means we can't be too far behind them, right?" She said, Charlotte met her eyes with a guarded expression, but her features softened when she saw Mel's reassuring smile.

"The REAL question is why they left in the first place." Charlotte replied as she looked around. It was almost dark, but from what she could see there was no sign that anything, living or dead had forced them to leave, it looked like they had just … packed up their gear and left.

SOMETHING had made them leave, and she was determined to find out what.

* * *

"Hey, I found something you might want to check out." Nick said as he joined them at breakfast.

"I was beginning to wonder where you got off too." Mel said between bites of her MRE.

"I was out, poking around, come on, when you both are done, I have something to show you."

After breakfast and about five miles of hiking, they peered through the clearing at what used to be a Walmart distribution center.

"I've been watching it for a while, and it looks deserted, but I didn't get near, with all of us we can get a closer look." Nick said as they readied their weapons, both for walkers and the living and crept forward.

There were a few dead walkers along the fence line, they had been stabbed in the forehead, Gavin sniffed at them and backed away from the fence. Thinking for a second, Charlotte rattled the rusty chain link fence and let out a loud whistle.

Sure enough, they heard them, by the sound of it, it was lots of them, a huge herd made their way around the corner, toward the sound.

"Whoever jumped this fence probably didn't think to check first and got trapped." Charlotte said.

"That means whatever is in that warehouse is still there!" Nick said.

"Sure, but you'd be torn to bits before you made it ten feet." Mel replied.

"Look … this place ain't going anywhere, and with this big of a herd in here, the stuff's not going anywhere, either. I say we sit tight." Charlotte said.

Nick blew out a frustrated breath, but he knew she was right, nothing in that place was worth getting any of them killed over.

"Come on, no use hanging around here pining after what we COULD have, I have traps to check anyway." She said as she and Gavin made her way back into the woods.

While Charlotte had stayed with Eastman, he had taught her how to build traps for rabbits and other small animals in order to feed Gavin and herself so she wouldn't have to use her gun so close to the cabin.

The first few traps yielded large, fat hares that they dispatched with a quick stab from their knives, the last one, however posed a different dilemma. Somehow, even though the snare was made for a smaller animal, she had managed to catch a doe.

"How do you want to play this?" Nick asked Charlotte, she furrowed her brow as she tried to come up with ideas. Using her rifle was out of the question, they were too close to camp, and the echo it would make would bring walkers for miles.

Charlotte let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, girlie, but we need the meat." She said as she crept slowly behind the doe, grabbed her by the ear and shoved her hunting knife to the hilt into the base of the animal's skull. The poor deer gave a violent shutter and fell, twitching to the ground.

Thank god she had thought to pick up any glass jars she found along the way, because she was likely going to need every last one of them for this meat.

"Sweet! We're going to eat good, tonight!" Nick said as he rubbed his hands together eagerly at the thought of venison for dinner.

"That's awesome you're so excited about it, because you're going to carry it back to camp." Mel interjected, Charlotte nodded in agreement with her as she wiped her knife clean.

"Wait … why me?" Nick sputtered.

"Because, you're the biggest and the strongest." Mel replied.

Nick grumbled as he slung the dead deer over his shoulders and followed the girls back to camp.

As they approached, Gavin, who was ahead of them stopped, his large ears swiveling around, and began scenting the air. A growl began, low in his throat as his hackles stood on end.

"Oh, shit, we got company." Charlotte said as they all drew their guns.

Sure enough, as they got closer, they could hear voices.

"… Holy shit! Rocket launchers, automatic weapons, the grenades, the works! With this, we'll be set!" they heard a male voice saying excitedly, he was talking about their hummer. Anger boiled up inside Charlotte like a volcano, like HELL she was going to let them take when she and the others worked so hard to get.

She motioned for Nick and Mel to out flank them, while she snuck up on the two men from behind.

"I never thought I would say this, but thank god I was a car thief!" one of them said as he inserted a slim Jim between the hummer's window and doorframe on the passenger side.

He suddenly froze as he felt cold steel press against the back of his neck.

"Move, and you die." Charlotte's voice hissed into his ear.

"Please! Oh … shit …! I thought this was abandoned, I swear!" he whimpered as he turned around slowly, his hands in the air.

"Oh … geeze!" He recoiled at the sight of Charlotte's face, she didn't care, she was quite used to that reaction by now.

"Boy, oh boy, did you ever pick the WRONG vehicle to try and jack." Charlotte said.

"We're sorry, okay?! Look, my name is Aaron, this is Chase, and we're scouts for a place called Alexandria. We go out and find people, people like you who know how to survive and bring them back to our community so they can have a safe place to live, and so they can teach others!

"How many of you are there? And you'd better tell me the truth, or I'll kill you where you stand." She said as she pressed the muzzle of her dessert eagle into the thief's temple.

"It's just us and one other guy, I swear!" He said as he squeezed his eyes shut and looked like he was about to piss himself.

"Where is he?" Charlotte asked the one who called himself Aaron."

"I … I don't know! He went off by himself in the woods, he does that a lot!" Aaron said, he saw a spark of emotion flash in the woman's eye, though he wasn't sure what it meant.

Just then, Nick and Mel came trudging out of the woods to the left of the hummer with their hands behind their heads. A man followed behind them, holding a rifle aimed at their heads, a hunter's mask covered all but his eyes, and he had a crossbow slung across his shoulders.

Daryl was frozen in shock, it was her, it was really her, he couldn't believe his eyes. Somehow, she had survived, he couldn't WAIT to rub Rick's face in this one.

Before he could take another step, however, he was looking down the barrel of her other dessert eagle.

"That's far enough, there, cowboy." She said without taking her eyes off Arron and Chase, the thief.

Daryl chuckled from behind his mask, he had forgotten how fast of a draw she was.

"If you're gonna point that fuckin' thing at me, you'd better be willing to use it." He said as he pulled his mask down off his face.

Charlotte's eye grew wide and she slowly turned to look at him, as her guns fell to her sides in shock. Daryl dashed at her and enveloped her in a crushing hug. He didn't say anything, but he could feel the joy, the relief, and the love in his embrace. Gavin jumped up and down and circled them like an excited puppy.

In turn, all the stress, loneliness and fear finally got the better of her and she collapsed against him, sobbing. Nick, Mel, Aaron and Chase merely stood there awkwardly as their embrace seemed to go on for a fortnight.

"Come on, there's a town, the others are there, I'm sure they'll be glad to see you." Daryl said, his gruff voice husky with emotion as they all climbed into the hummer. Daryl drove, and Charlotte rode shotgun, just like old times.

"So YOU'RE the famous 'pirate girl' everyone's been going on about!" Aaron said, Charlotte blushed a little.

"Yeah, I suppose I am." She said as they pulled up to the huge iron gate, and waved as the person on watch waved them through.

Charlotte looked out the window in awe; it was like this while mess never happened in here.

Deanna came out to meat them.

"What's all this?" She asked as Rick and the others walked up, they stopped dead in their tracks when Charlotte emerged from the passenger side.

"Oh my god!" Maggie said, choking back a joyful sob as she and the rest of the group rushed forward and embraced Charlotte in a many armed hug as many tears were shed.

"You KNOW I'm gonna rub your face in this one." Daryl said as he came to stand beside Rick.

"Alright, Alright, you were right, I was wrong." Rick chuckled.

"Well … NOW I understand why you called her 'pirate'." Deanna said with an amused smile on her face. "Well, if she is part of your group, than her and her friends are welcome here as well. Olivia can assign houses to her companions; I assume I already know where she is going to stay." She said as she winked at Daryl.

Daryl's face remained expressionless, but his coloring cheeks betrayed him.

The members of the group finally released her and clamored for information on how she had survived, and where she had been all this time. Charlotte started to try to answer all of their questions, but she didn't even know where to begin. Rick saw her catch Daryl's gaze from over the heads of the group members and the sexual tension between them was thick enough to cut with a knife.

"Okay, okay now, I think Charlotte's had more than enough excitement to last her a long time, I think right now all she wants to do is clean up and have a good night's sleep." Rick said as the group backed off, looking downcast. Charlotte bid him a silent thanks as Daryl whisked her away to his house, second to the last on the left side of the street, his arm protectively around her shoulders.

"Wow, this place …! It's like nothing ever happened! It's so …" she started to gush once they were inside his house, she didn't get a chance to utter another word, however, because as soon as she shut the door, Daryl pulled her close and kissed her with all the love and passion he had been burying over these many months.

Without breaking their kiss, he picked her up and carried her to the bathroom.

 _Notes: Ahhh! Reunited and it feels so good! I hope it was everything you all hoped it would be. This might be it for a little bit, at least until the weekend is over._


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 _Notes: Now, given the mid-season finale was last night, this will all be 'by the seat of my pants' stuff until February when TWD returns again (WHY, AMC, why so long?) not that my story really followed the show, anyway LOL. But it does take inspiration from it, so I just thought I'd put it out there._

Charlotte was suddenly aware of the feeling of a warm, strong embrace enveloping her, something she had felt many times when she was out there, alone. Even after she had teamed up with Mel and Nick, she was still alone, without _him_ she was always alone.

She awoke fully and opened her eyes and the bedroom of a house came into focus, still bathed in shadow, meaning it must not even be dawn yet.

She suddenly remembered the meeting they had with Deanna first thing in the morning, before breakfast. The last thing she wanted to be was late, but the strong arms that held her had other ideas, they tightened their grip and pulled her close.

"Where'd you think you're goin?" Daryl's hot breath hissed into her ear.

"I have a meeting with Deanna this morning, and I don't want to be late.

"She can wait." He growled into her ear as he nuzzled the valley between her collarbone and shoulder, causing goosebumps to erupt all over her body, and electricity to zing to every nerve ending. She twisted in his arms to face him and their lips crashed together.

Oh, god how he had missed her, he had stayed awake for more than an hour after she had fallen asleep, just watching her and thinking about how he was the luckiest bastard on the planet. This series of events that had brought her back to him had him seriously contemplating that there might actually _be_ some sort of supreme deity up there somewhere and he had silently thanked them, whoever, or whatever they were.

"We … really should get …. Going." Charlotte said, her sentence coming out as more of a gasp of arousal as Daryl, now atop, plundered her neck once more.

"Mmmm." He acknowledged that he had heard her, but he made no effort to stop as he breathed in deep the subtle lavender scent that was uniquely her. She could feel the manifestation of his desire throbbing against her bare thigh. In one move, she hooked her legs around his waist and thrust her hips forward.

Both of them gasped with pleasure as he entered her and with an almost animalistic growl, he began thrusting with wild, reckless abandon. The pleasure was almost unbearable as she threw her arms around his neck and drew him in closer as she matched his rhythm thrust for thrust.

"Oh … Daryl …. Oh god!" She ground out into his ear through gritted teeth as her orgasm hit her like a train. Just hearing her say his name in the throes of passion was enough to send him over the edge as well he screwed his eyes shut and the cords in his neck stood out as he climaxed.

They laid there for what seemed like a fortnight, composing themselves, it didn't matter how many times they made love, it always felt like the first time, every time.

"I am sorry, Daryl, but I really have to get ready now, because now, thanks to you, I am going to be late." Charlotte said as she exorcised herself from their embrace and headed to the bathroom. A devilish grin crossed Daryl's face as he followed her.

"Daryl, really, it's going to look like shit if I'm late!" She said, not really meaning it as he stepped into the shower and embraced her from behind.

"What?! I have to get goin, too and I can't wait for you to finish!" He said as he reached in front of her and grabbed the soap.

"I just figured we'd have a little fun, since we both have to get clean anyways." He said lathered his hands up with soap and ran his hands sensually down every contour of her body. Once he was finished, she ducked under the showerhead, relishing the feeling of finally having hot water.

"Now it's _your_ turn." She said with a catlike grin as she ran her hands sensually down the length of his body. Another growl escaped him as he made to pull her close, but she stepped out of his reach.

"No way, mister, this time I get to do the touching." She said with a cutesy grin, he screwed his eyes shut as his desire grew with every pass her hands made over his body.

"Looks like someone is ready for round two already." She said as she wrapped her small, dainty hand around his cock and began to stroke at a painfully agonizing pace. Daryl's hand suddenly shot forward, gripped her around the back of the neck and pulled her into a raw, passionate kiss.

"I love you, you know that? That whole time you were gone? When I thought you were dead, it was hell. I don' EVER want to live without you again, I couldn't, it'd kill me." He said as he rubbed his cheek against hers.

Tears brimmed Charlotte's eye as she cupped his face in her hands and kissed him sweetly and sensually.

"I love you too, Daryl, you know that I do, when I lost you, it was like a piece of me had been lost, too. But I really have to get going, I'm sorry." She said as she stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel.

* * *

"It's open!" Deanna said to the knock on the door.

"I'm sorry I'm late, I overslept." Charlotte said apologetically as Deanna motioned for her to choose a seat in the living room of the grand house. Deanna smiled pleasantly at her, if she had suspicions on the _real_ reason for her tardiness, she didn't let on to them; true to her form as a politician, she had a damn good poker face.

"That's quite alright, I can't imagine you got much sleep being out there on your own for so long with no protection and no safe place." Deanna said as she poured them both some hot tea.

"Forgive me, but I have already heard so much about you from Rick and the others that I feel like I know you already. I can see now why your nickname is 'Pirate girl' though I have to confess, I was a little nervous the first time I heard Michonne call you that." Deanna said with a chuckle.

Charlotte laughed. "Yeah, It was actually Daryl who started calling me that, because of my patch, and my one eye. At first I hated it, but it kind of stuck."

"How did you lose your eye?" Deanna asked. Charlotte stopped and looked at the older woman for a moment, the teacup half way to her lips. Emotions clouded her eyes and a shadow fell over her features.

"Long time ago, back when all this first started, my sister and I were ambushed by another group, one of them tried to rape her, and I tried to stop it, and he tried to kill me, that's how I got this." She said emotionlessly as she pointed to her ruined eye.

"My sister, who was an ER trauma care nurse tried to stitch it as best as she could, but the only thing we had was fishing line, so that's why it looks the way it does." Charlotte finished as she sat back against the couch and concentrated on the contents of her teacup.

Deanna's look of compassion, and empathy was genuine as she sat her cup down on its saucer on the coffee table between them.

"Does it …. Hurt?" Deanna asked hesitantly, Charlotte could tell she was embarrassed for asking, but couldn't stop the urge to satisfy her curiosity.

"Sometimes, on cold days, or when the weather's fixin' to change." Charlotte replied with a friendly smile toward the older woman.

They sat in a somewhat uncomfortable silence until Deanna spoke.

"Ah! I almost forgot, do you have any particular skills, or attributes?"

"Well, I don't know about _skills_ , but I did do a lot of watch duty, and I have been told I was one of the best 'in ant outers' as Glenn put it." Charlotte said with a laugh. "My brother was a motorcycle mechanic, so he did teach me a few things, plus skills I learned along the way." She added.

"Very well, then." Deanna chuckled. "I am sure we can find something for you. Since Rick was your group leader, I will trust him to put you where you will be most useful. Before you do, though, I want you to stop by Pete and Jessie's. Pete is our resident Doctor, and I like all newcomers to get checked out by him before they start going out there." She said.

Given her past …. Experience with doctors, Charlotte seriously considered requesting to decline, but she knew it would be futile. Deanna made the rules here, and she had no choice but to follow them.

* * *

"Uh … Jessie? Jessie Anderson?" Charlotte said when a woman of about thirty with fine, shoulder length blonde hair answered the door, she tried not to recoil at the sight of Charlotte's face, but she didn't quite manage it.

"I am sorry if this is a bad time, but I am here to see your husband … I guess? The town doctor?" she said as she rubbed the back of her neck, this was becoming very awkward _very fast_.

The woman named Jessie brightened. "Oh! Yes! You must be the new girl! I am so sorry, where are my manners, please come in, Pete is waiting for you in the sitting room." She said as she opened the door and gestured for her to enter.

"Ah! You must be Charlotte! Please, sit." He said as he gestured to a stool in the middle of the room.

Doctor Pete did all the customary things a doctor does when giving someone a once-over; he checked her pulse, looked into her eye, her ears, down her throat, tested her reflexes, and finally, stopped to examine her ruined eye.

She mentally cursed, and to think, she had started to hope he would just leave it, since there was nothing he could do for it anyway.

"The stitching job was remarkably … _good_ … considering the material, what did they use, twine?" He asked as he lifted the patch and shone his light on the blank socket that was once her eye.

"It was fishing line, actually." Charlotte corrected, Pete stopped and looked at her.

"Really? Well, now I am impressed." He said as he allowed her to pull her patch back down over her eye.

"I suppose you already know this, but you are very lucky to have survived such a terrible injury without any infection or bone death. Whoever sewed you up knew what they were doing, and that's probably what saved your life." He said.

Tears welled up in Charlotte's eye as she thought of her sister.

"Well, we're done here, as far as I can tell, you seem to be fit as a fiddle." He said as he smiled at her. Charlotte smiled back, but she couldn't shake the creepy vibe she was getting from the Doc, something was off about him, she just couldn't put her finger on it.

"Say, aren't you the one who cuts hair?" Charlotte asked Jessie on her way out.

"Yes! Why would you like a trim?" She asked.

"Yeah, it's pretty long now, and I wanted to get it back to the way it was." She said as she gestured to her now shoulder length hair.

"Okay …" Jessie said as she opened a spiral notebook. "How does Wednesday sound?"

Wednesday sounds great." Charlotte said with a smile as she bid them goodbye.

* * *

"Hey there, law man." Charlotte said as she fell in step next to Rick.

"I will admit, I've missed that nickname." Rick said with a chuckle.

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" Charlotte asked.

"Well, Daryl, Aaron, and Chase were going scouting today, but I am sure they would rather have you along, well I _know_ Daryl would. If you hurry, you might be able to catch them before they leave." Rick said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Hey! Room for one more?" Charlotte said as she jogged up to Daryl, Aaron and Chase.

"Room? Fuck, with you we don't need this sumbitch here." Daryl said as he jabbed his thumb at Chase.

"Hey …!" Chase said, Charlotte had to cover her mouth to stifle her laughter at the thief's indignant expression.

"Come on, let's get goin, we're burnin' daylight." Daryl said as he put his arm around Charlotte's shoulders and the three of them walked to their car.

"what's the plan for today?" Charlotte asked.

"We're gonna see if we can try to clear that distribution center." Daryl said.

"Oh, boy, this outta be fun." Charlotte said as she sat back against the seat. In the rear view mirror, she could see Aaron's worried expression.

"Don't worry, man, we won't let you be walker chow." She said as she twisted around in her seat and patted his knee reassuringly.

"Uh … thanks." Aaron said hesitantly as he forced a smile as the car came to a stop jiust down the road from the distribution center.

"We have to somehow get a vantage point without them seeing us." Charlotte said, more to herself than her companions as she got out and scoured the surrounding tree line for something, anything, but all the trees were pines, too straight and tall to climb with specialized equipment, which she didn't have.

"Maybe if we hike up the hillside there, I bet we could see the whole place from up there." Aaron said as he pointed to the surrounding hills.

"Great idea, dude." Let's go." Charlotte said as she clapped Aaron on the back, causing a hitch in his breathing from the impact, the little woman has some strength to her.

"Crap!" Charlotte cursed as they got up high enough to see there were a lot more walkers in the fence than they previously thought.

"Look, there is a gate at the front of this place, I say we open it, use the car to lure them far enough out, than double back and close it, that's our best bet I think." She said.

"Hey, hey, come on! Over here, you ugly bitches! Fresh meat right here!" Charlotte said as she trotted along the fence line, raking the handle of her machete on the chain link as she went. Soon she had the whole herd, hundreds strong following her; their rotted teeth gnashing and drool oozing from their decayed mouths.

"Ready?" She called to Daryl, who gave her a thumbs up from behind the wheel, the gate was locked, but nothing a quick jimmy with her trusty crowbar couldn't fix, the decayed, rusted lock broke easily. Charlotte swung the gates open and made a break for the car.

The herd of walkers filed out in hot pursuit, just like they had planned, every once and a while, Charlotte would hang out the window so they could smell her when they started to look like they were losing interest.

"Fifteen miles should be enough, then we'll take the first turn around up ahead." Daryl said, the trip seemed to take an eternity, mostly because they were forced to go at a snail's pace to keep the walkers interested, but at long last, they reached fifteen miles, Daryl hit the accelerator and made sure the herd was out of sight before taking the next turn around.

"It's getting' dark, we're gonna have to spend the night in there, we'll check the fences to make sure everything is secure." Daryl said.

Charlotte was disappointed at not being able to take a hot shower and sleep in their comfortable bed tonight, but she knew he was right, it was just too dangerous to travel at night anymore.

Luckily for them, the fence was secure, either someone had left the gate to the place open, or … the walker herd was _put_ there as a deterrent to keep people away. They found the distribution center to be locked up tight, so there was little chance there were walkers inside, but they banged on the open door and waited, just in case. When nothing emerged, Daryl concluded that it was safe, and they entered.

"Wow _look_ at this place!" Aaron said as he wondered the entire warehouse in a trance, the place was completely untouched, there were household items, clothes, and food items stacked in crates to the ceiling.

* * *

From the woods beyond the warehouse, two men watched with binoculars.

"Did they take the bait?" A voice crackled over their radios.

"Like coons into a trap, boss. What do you want us to do?"

"Take em out." Came the reply.

 _Notes: Whoa! Hey! Sorry nuther cliffhanger, I know, I am terrible. Sorry for all of the fluff in this chapter, but I figured they had earned it, you know?_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Where … should we sleep?" Aaron asked as he eyed the huge building, Charlotte and Daryl looked at one another, it was clear they had the same idea.

"I say we clamor up to that first level of shit there and squeeze between, jus' in case." Daryl said.

"In case of what, walkers?" Aaron asked stupidly, Charlotte put her hand to her forehead.

"No, in case of living people." She replied, her voice had an edge of exasperation to it as Daryl handed her his crossbow and hoisted himself up onto the shelf, then helped Charlotte and Aaron up.

"The more time you spend out here, you'll learn real quick that you have more to fear from your fellow man than you do from the walkers." Charlotte said as she got comfortable in her stomach.

"I'll take first shift." Charlotte said as she carefully laid her rifle next to her, where she could reach it if she needed to.

"Sweet dreams, boys." She said as she saluted them.

* * *

Sometime later, Charlotte didn't know how long, but she knew it was nearing the end of her shift, Daryl was up next. A coy grin crossed her face as she scooted close to him and nibbled his ear.

"Daryl …" she purred into his ear, she grinned as Daryl shivered and squirmed, goosebumps erupted on his skin. She heard a growl escape his throat as she traced his ear with her tongue.

Daryl's body suddenly came to life, his hand shot out and gripped the back of her head and he kissed her roughly, his tongue boldly entering her mouth.

"Why do you turn me on when you know we can't fuck!" Daryl growled against her mouth between kisses.

"Because, its makes when we finally _do_ get home even more fun." She said as she grabbed his hair and pulled him into another heated, passionate kiss.

It was then they heard it, rustling, rhythmic footsteps, and voices, the sounds of people.

"Hey!" Charlotte hissed as she jabbed the still sleeping Aaron with the mouth of her rifle.

"Wake up! We got company!" she said as she as she cocked the hammer back on her rifle and clicked the safety off as quietly as she could.

Sure enough, three men came into view, they had their weapons drawn, too and they were scouring the warehouse, luckily for Aaron, Charlotte and Daryl, they didn't think to look up.

"Take em out." Daryl hissed, his voice barely audible. Charlotte took aim and fired on the first man, she cursed under her breath as the round went right through his neck, meaning they would be dealing with him later.

"Oh, shit! What the fuck?!" One of them said as they took cover behind a stack of large crates in the middle of the isle and frantically looked around the dark warehouse.

"They were ready for us! They knew!" the other man said then suddenly, he was pitching forward, an arrow buried in the back of his head.

"Oh, shit … Oh shit …" the remaining man said, panicking as he was gunned down before he even had a chance to run, this time, Charlotte got him in the head.

* * *

"Someone tried to ambush you?" Rick said, his aging face serious.

"The key word here, law man, is _tried_." Charlotte said with a wink, Rick chuckled in spite of himself.

"How many were there?" Rick asked Daryl, choosing to ignore Charlotte's light take on almost being killed … again.

"Three, don' know if there were more, I'd say they probably belonged to a group, its jus' too hard to make it out there now." Daryl said.

Rick rubbed a hand over his face, this was a concern indeed, he just hoped he could make Deanna see it, too.

PAGE BREAK

"Shit, those people ain't nothing to mess with, they ain't pushovers like we thought." One of the men said as they sat around a dying camp fire.

"We're gonna do this covertly then, I have someone … someone on the inside of their little slice of apocalyptic paradise. We're gonna take em' down … from the _inside_." Their leader, a burly man by the name of Jessie said, a cryptic grin crossing his scarred face.

* * *

"Rick, let me get this straight, you are saying you want to put _guns_ in these people's hands? In the hands of _children_?" Deanna said as they walked down the street together, Rick ran his hand frustratingly through his greying hair as he toiled with his thinning patience.

"Look … we were out there a long time, we know what it takes to survive out there, we know what kind of people are out there, and you have to face it, most of the people left aren't going to be the good kind. They are going to come, for this place, for what you have, or just for the hell of it. Some don't even have a reason … they just come, wouldn't you feel better knowing your people know how to defend themselves?" Rick countered.

Deanna opened her mouth to retort, but what could she say, he was right, this wasn't the world as they once knew it … and it was high time she started facing that fact. She halted her progress down the street and blew out a huge sigh.

"Okay, Rick, you win, what did you have in mind?" She asked wearily.

* * *

"BB guns? You're seriously going to teach us with BB guns?" Ron, Jessie and Pete's oldest son scoffed as he held the gun dismissively in his hand.

"You ever shoot anything with one'o these? If you can kill something with a BB gun, you can kill with anything." Daryl said, not bothering to hide his condescending tone from the petulant boy.

"Besides, real ammo is too precious to waste." Rick added as he motioned for Ron to step up to the line of targets.

"Okay, boy, you got a big mouth, let's see if you can back it up." Rick said as he handed Ron the BB rifle and gestured to the target in front of them.

Ron rolled his eyes and raised the rifle, but, before he could even aim, Rick's hand closed around the barrel.

"Wait, which way is the wind coming from?" He asked.

"Uh …. I don't know … north …. Northeast I guess?" He offered.

"Are you sure? Because wind direction is going to effect the track your shot takes, and that can be the difference between life and death." Rick said.

"This is stupid!" Ron said as he thrust the BB gun back into Rick's hands and turned to stalk off. His mother's arm around his stopped him.

"You just wait one minute, young man! This IS a matter of life and death, and no matter WHAT you think of Rick, or his group, you are GOING to participate, and you are going to listen to EVERYTHING they say. Do I make myself CLEAR?"

Ron jerked his arm out of his mother's grip and stalked off.

"I'm sorry." Jessie apologized, Rick waved her concern off, chuckling.

"Even at the end of the world, teenagers never change." He said.

"Well, like it or not, we can't make him learn when he doesn't want to." Charlotte said.

"I'll learn." A small voice said, all the adults turned around to see Sam standing there, his hands jammed in his pockets.

"Honey, are you sure?" Jessie said as she put a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Great! That's great, come on up here, son. Let's get started, everyone." Rick said as he motioned for everyone to get started.

* * *

"Whatcha doin' out, kid? You know their ain't supposed to be anyone out walking around after dark." Charlotte said from the darkness of her porch as a small figure passed her and Daryl's house.

Sam jumped out of his skin like a frightened cat.

"I … I'm sorry I …. Uh …" he stuttered, looking anywhere but at Charlotte as she descended the steps towards him. Charlotte noticed this, she took hold of his chin with her fingers and forced him to look her in the face.

"You don't have to be afraid of me, boy, I'm as harmless as a one-eyed dog." She said with a wink and a grin, Sam smiled a little and his somber mood seemed to lift.

"Now, do you mind telling me why you are prowling around here at night like a coon up to no good?" She asked as she put her arm around his small shoulders and let him back to the porch, where they sat.

"Mom and dad …. They are fighting again." Sam said, as his gaze concentrated on his feet.

"I' am sorry to hear that, do they fight a lot?" Charlotte asked.

"I guess not, but when they do, dad gets really mean to mom." He replied as he played with the fabric of his sweater.

"Well, sometimes grown-ups argue, even moms and dads. This world isn't an easy world to live in anymore, not that it was before, but it can put stress on people and cause them to fight more." Charlotte replied.

"Most of the time dad just yells, but sometimes, he hits mom …. Like tonight, they had a really bad fight, I had to get out of there, I just …. Couldn't listen anymore." Sam said as tears welled up in his eyes.

"I am really sorry to hear that." Charlotte said, not really knowing what else to say as she put a hand on the boy's trembling shoulders.

"Is …. Is Daryl here right now?" Sam asked, eyeing the dark house nervously.

"He's out on a hunting trip, won't be back for another day or so I expect, why?" Charlotte asked, an amused glint in her eye.

"He's …. Scary." Sam replied.

Charlotte chuckled heartily at that. "But you thought I was scary a few minutes ago, too, right?" She asked, the boy wordlessly shrugged.

"Do you think I am scary now?" She asked, Sam shook his head.

"I think you're nice." He said as he looked up at her, a small smile forming on his lips.

"Well, maybe you might think Daryl's nice too if you give him the same chance." Charlotte replied.

Sam shrugged. "Maybe."

"Well, we best be getting you home, your mom's probably going to be wondering what happened to you." Charlotte said as she stood.

"Can I stay with you? I mean …. Since Daryl's not here?" Sam asked abruptly.

"Sam, I don't know about that, your mom is going to be worried sick and …." Charlotte started to explain.

"Please! I just …. Don't want to go back to that house! Not after …." Sam trailed off, Charlotte suddenly got a horrible, sinking feeling in her gut.

"Sam, did your dad hit you, too?" She asked as she gripped the boy's shoulders and forced him to look at her.

Sam's eyes welled up with tears as he suddenly dashed forward and threw his small arms around Charlotte's waist.

"Shhhh, it's okay, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. Come on, what do you say we go inside, and I'll make us some hot chocolate and we can read a few stories?" She said as she peeled the distressed boy off her and led him inside.

* * *

Charlotte's eye snapped open and she looked around, judging by faint light coming through the window, it was just after dawn. She say bolt upright as she suddenly remembered Sam.

She walked into the living room to find him where she had left him, sound asleep on the squishy couch, she smiled in spite of herself, she hated to wake him, but his mother was likely going to be worried sick about him.

She walked up beside him and gently shook him.

"Sam, come on, up and at 'em, boy. We gotta get you back home."

Sam stretched lazily and rubbed his eyes. "Da we haf to?" He slurred, still half asleep.

"I am afraid so, your mother is going to be worried sick about you, now come on …. Up, up!" She said as she ruffled his hair.

Jessie was waiting outside for them when they walked up to his house, a cup of coffee clutched in her hand, the bruise was evident on her face.

"I thought he went to his friend's house, that's where he usually goes when …" Jessie said as they met at the foot of her porch stairs.

"I think that is where he was headed, but I happened to be outside." Charlotte said with a grin, Jessie suddenly pulled her into a brief hug.

"Thank you for taking care of him, I hope he was no trouble?" She said as she ruffled the boy's hair.

"Naw, no trouble at all, ain't that right, champ?" She said as she grinned down at the boy.

"Charlotte's really cool, mom! We had hot chocolate, and she read to me until I fell asleep!" Sam said excitedly.

"That's great, now get inside and wash up, breakfasts' almost ready." She said, Sam gave Charlotte one last wave and ran inside.

"Thank you again, for everything." Jessie said as she put her hand on Charlotte's arm, her eyes gleaming with gratitude.

Charlotte watched the house for a moment after they had both gone inside, _now_ she knew the reason why poor Ron had so much angst. Lord only knew how many emotional scars those poor kids had.

Charlotte noticed Pete eying her in the window, she stared right back and gave him a surly nod, not bothering to hide the malice in her expression, before finally turning back towards Deanna's house, suddenly remembering why she had woken up so early, with Daryl gone, it was she who had to take his place at the meetings.

' _How convenient.'_ She said to herself.

* * *

"So how is the … self-defense training going?" Deanna asked Rick and Charlotte.

"Well, they are all fast learners, with a little more practice, some might even be able to start going out on supply runs with us." Rick said.

"Your boys are especially gung ho." Charlotte added.

Deanna chuckled. "Well, they always were, ever since the beginning, they were the reason Reg and I made it this far and were able to do all this." She said as she gestured around her.

"Thank you both for all you are doing for the community." She said as she put her hands on theirs.

Pete was waiting for Charlotte on her porch when she returned.

"Well, howdy there, Pete, what can I do for you?" She asked, trying to keep things pleasant as she walked up to meet him.

"That depends." He said cryptically.

"I m sorry, I don't follow." She said as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"I want you to stop meddling in my family, our family dynamics are _none_ of your business." He said menacingly.

"I'm not _meddling_ , it's not _my_ fault that you scare your boy so bad that he runs away." She said casually, her eyes never leaving his.

In an instant, his hand shot out and gripped her arm so hard that she could feel the bones creak beneath the pressure, likewise, before he could blink, she had her desert eagle at his temple, careful to angle it where it couldn't be seen from the street.

"Do you know what this is? This is a desert eagle, this is one of the most powerful handguns in the world, do you have _any_ idea what it would do to your skull?" She asked as she clicked the safety off.

Pete froze, and released his grip on her arm in true wife beater fashion, like she thought, he was really nothing but a yellow bellied coward, a person that only picked on those physically and mentally weaker than he.

"Now, that shit you pull on your poor wife and sons ain't going to work on me, asshole, I am NOT a victim, and if you ever threaten me or touch me again, I'll blow your brains out …. Or better yet, maybe I'll take you out there and shoot your knees out and let the walkers take care of you?" She said as she gestured beyond the fence with her free hand.

"Now, I suggest you get on back to your house, and remember, if you threaten me again, I'll kill you." She said as she shoved him away from her and holstered her weapon, but didn't clip it in.

Pete stalked off back towards his house, seething, this definitely wasn't the end, that bitch was going to pay, if it was the last thing he did.

 _Notes: Wow, sorry it has been so long. Boy the holidays were hectic! but I hope to get the subsequent chapters to not only this story, but the others out as quickly as I can. Thanks to you all for being so patient!_


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"He _threatened_ you?" Michonne said as they sat on her porch with a glass of wine, Charlotte shrugged as she took a long drag off her cigarette.

"Yeah, he thought he could bully me and scare me like he does that poor wife and kids of his, but I showed him with this." Charlotte said as she drew her desert eagle and held it up, its chrome muzzle gleaming in the light of the early spring moon.

Michonne laughed heartily as they toasted their glasses.

"Here's to teaching the assholes of the world that some bitches ain't to be messed with." She said, then, her expression turned serious.

"You gonna tell Rick? … Or more importantly, you gonna tell Daryl?" She asked.

"No, why? I handled it, there is nothing to tell. Plus Daryl would murder him, and Rick, I am afraid of what Rick would do, he's been so unstable lately." Charlotte mused as she swirled the wine around in her glass.

"If they find out second hand, it could be worse." Michonne replied.

Charlotte fell silent, she knew Michonne had a point, of either Daryl, or Rick found out about this some other way, it would be ten times as worse than if she just came out and told them right from the beginning, it was clear she had some thinking to do.

* * *

Charlotte was roused from her restless slumber by the click of the front door, she looked at the dark window outside and deduced that it was probably a few hours after midnight, give or take, judging from the position of the moon.

On the floor at the foot of her bed, she saw Gavin's imposing outline loom into view as he stood, the shadow of his long tail sweeping back and forth, she figured it was Daryl, she trusted that dog enough, he would let her know if it was an intruder. He defiantly made it easier living in this hellish world.

Sure enough, Daryl's lean, shaggy silhouette came into view, backlit by the light from the moon, thinking she was asleep, he crept to the shower, peeling off his clothes as he went. Charlotte smiled to herself as she heard the shower turn on and a new sense of peace enveloped her.

She used to hate admitting to herself that she _depended_ emotionally on another human being, she had gotten so used to relying on herself, and herself alone that it was new and strange, and frightening to depend upon someone other than herself. She knew she could always count on herself, but something about Daryl had broken through the tough walls she had put up around her feelings, and her heart.

It was then she realized that she would have to tell him firsthand about the incident with Pete, because if she didn't, Daryl would likely see it as a breach of trust. She turned to face him as he slipped into bed.

"Aww shit, I didn't wake you, did I?" He said as he slid his arms around her.

"Yeah, but I am glad you did, because we need to talk." She replied, his expression became slightly panicked.

"T … talk?" He gulped.

"Not _that_ talk, dumbass, something happened today to me and I wanted you to hear it first from me, and not from the grapevine." She said.

His expression hardened as the weariness from the week long hunting trip drifted away and he sat up in bed.

"What happened? Someone hurt you?" He said, his blue eyes blazing.

"Well … yes … and no …" she said, pausing before she told him the whole story about what had happened with Sam, and how Pete had threatened her.

Daryl jumped out of bed and grabbed a pair of jeans.

"I'm gonna kill the sumbitch! Or at least fuck him up, make him think twice before …" he trailed off, seething.

"Hey! Whoa! Did you _miss_ the part where I said I handled it? I am not a damsel in destress, Daryl, in case you forgot, I've had my eye gouged out, I have been shot, beat up, hit by a car, you name it! I can handle this coward, I know how men like him operate. Deep down he is a wuss, he only picks on people weaker than him, and you and I both know that _isn't_ me." She said, her aquamarine eye blazing as she looked him dead straight in the face.

Daryl shook his head and chuckled. "He picked the wrong girl to fuck with, that's for sure." He said with a proud grin.

"Fuckin' A, you got that right, and tomorrow I'm going to tell Rick, and then I am going to tell Deanna."

* * *

"Pete did what?" Rick said, leaning towards Charlotte as though he were making sure he had heard her right.

Charlotte merely stared him dead straight in the face, her expression was set in a scowl of seriousness.

"You should know by now that I don't spread bullshit, law man." She replied to him, her tone curt.

"Yeah but … Pete is Alexandria's doctor, I have no idea what Deanna's reaction will be!" Rick countered.

"Well, let's ask her." Charlotte said as she strode off toward the former councilwoman's house.

"Charlotte, now just _wait_ a minute!" Rick said as he caught up to her and took her by the arm.

"Wait for what, Rick? Until he hurts Jessie, or the boys? Hurts someone else? Hurts me?" charlotte challenged him, silence settled between them until Charlotte spoke again.

"I told Daryl about it last night." She said.

"What?! Aw fuck, Charlotte, now we're going to have a whole new mess of problems!" He said as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Well what was I supposed to do, Rick, we are in what I would like to consider a committed relationship, I can't keep that from him. It would cause problems between us! Don't worry, I talked him down, though, I told him I handled it, that I don't think he will be bothering me anymore, but I also think I will be going to Maggie from now on for all my medical needs." Charlotte said, the ghost of a dry smile playing about her mouth, Rick smiled in spite of himself.

"Fair enough, and I suppose you are right, I guess it is the right thing to do to let Deanna know she has a wife beater in her town." He replied.

"After you." She said as she motioned toward her house.

* * *

"He did what?!" Deanna said as she sat her cup of tea down on the coffee table in front of her in shock.

Charlotte said nothing, she merely held the older woman's shocked gaze with her own set, serious expression.

Deanna looked to Rick, as though she didn't know whether or not to believe Charlotte's story.

"She's telling the truth, Deanna, trust me, out of everyone here, this little girl is probably the most honest person in this town." Rick said as he put a hand on Charlotte's shoulder.

"And what do you suggest I do about this?" Deanna asked.

"That's up to you, it's your town." Rick said with a shrug, he was going to put the ball in her court.

"Well, what do _you_ think we should do?" Deanna replied shrewdly, as if sensing the move he was trying to make.

"I say you should call him in and have a talk with him, tell him that you know what is going on and that he threatened Charlotte, and if he does it again to her or anyone else, he's gone." Rick said, a cold gleam flashed in his eyes.

"Are you saying kick him out?" Deanna said with a raised eyebrow, clearly she wasn't happy with the aspect of losing her only doctor.

"I think it would be best, if he continues to hurt or threaten other people. I hate it, but there isn't much we can do now a days concerning him and his wife, before, I could take him in, she could press charges … but now …" Rick trailed off.

"I won't lie to you, ma'am, as a former cop, there is not much I hate more than a wife beater, but sadly in this day and age, there is not much we can do to him concerning his own family, unless Jessie takes a stand." He said as he pinned her with a hard gaze.

Deanna nodded. "Point taken, I will have a talk with him." She said as they all stood.

"Oh! I almost forgot, we are going to be having a town get together to officially welcome all of you to Alexandria."

"Oh, that's really not necessary …" Rick began but Deanna waved him off.

"It's customary when we get new members to have a town social, of sorts, it puts everyone at ease and allows everyone to get to know one another." Deanna said as she turned to Charlotte.

"I have heard from the grapevine that you are quite the guitar player."

Charlotte blushed. "Well, I play, but I don't think …"

"Great, what would you say to headlining the event?" Deanna said. Charlotte stole a murderous glance at Rick, who merely shrugged sheepishly.

Put on the spot, she had no choice but to concede. "I guess." She said as she blew out a breath.

* * *

"Uh … excuse me … Olivia?" Charlotte said as she knocked on the open door to the supply house.

"Charlotte! Yes! What can I do for you?"

"Well, Deanna wants me to headline the … I guess event would be the best way to describe it? But I need a guitar, I had one, but sadly, shit happened, and I lost it. Deanna told me you might have something I could use?" Charlotte explained awkwardly, she hated this shit.

"Oh, yes! I think I have something you might be interested in." Olivia said with a grin as she motioned for Charlotte to follow her.

"Fucking A man!" Charlotte breathed as she was met by row after row of electric guitars of all styles and types, hundreds of them, some hung from the wall, others were stacked on the floor against each other.

"We just … accumulated them over the years. In the beginning, before things got really bad, we snagged a bunch of them; the boys would bring back one or two every time they went on a run from wherever. Take your pick." Olivia explained as she moved back and motioned to the guitars.

Carefully, methodically, she sifted through the many guitars, there were many Stratocasters, Gibson SG's and many knockoffs of those, along with twenty or so hollow bodied electric guitars in every color combination one could think of. Charlotte was torn; so many great guitars, any of them would be a great choice, even the knockoffs, but since she didn't have to _pay_ for it, she was going to choose the best of the best.

It was then she saw it, the corner of the fender peeking out from behind a row of Gibson imitations, she carefully sifted through them and gasped as she pulled out a stunning Stratocaster, it was the brightest shade of pink she had ever seen on a guitar, with a metallic finish, and silver accents.

"This one." She said as she slung it over her shoulder.

* * *

"So, she talked you into it, huh?" Daryl said as he came to join her on the porch with a beer, Charlotte had been sitting out there for the past hour, strumming away, brushing up her (albeit rusty) skills.

"Well … _cornered_ would be a more accurate description." She replied with a laugh.

"But, if it puts us in their good graces, and puts these people at ease with us, than I suppose I can take one for the team." She added with a chuckle.

"Found anyone to back ya up, yet?" Daryl asked as he took a deep swig of his beer.

Charlotte smiled without meeting his intense blue eyed gaze as she strummed along absent mindedly.

"Oh, I have a few ideas."

* * *

Charlotte was waiting for Ron when he slipped through the entrance he thought was secret, leaning on the fence, her foot resting casually behind her. Ron, distracted by whatever teenage angst he was going through, walked right past her without even seeing her.

"Have fun?" She asked him, he let out a yelp, and spun around brandishing a knife.

"What the hell, lady?! I could have stabbed you!"

"Well, as you might have noticed, it wouldn't be the first time." She said as she pushed off the wall and walked slowly up to him.

W … what d'you want?" He asked, he tried not to show it, but he was intimidated by the little woman's rough appearance and confident demeanor.

"I hear you're a pretty good drummer, I hear you were in the band in school back before all this started. I also know that you have been sneaking out to be with that little girlfriend of yours for the back few weeks or so, and while I really don't give a shit, it _is_ against the rules." Charlotte said as she came to stand in front of Ron with her arms crossed over her chest.

"So, you gonna rat me out or what?" Ron said, his mockingly haughty tone not reaching his panicked expression.

"That all depends, I have a proposition for you. Deanna wants me to headline this get together she is putting on for everyone, the problem is … I need a drummer." She said as she looked pointedly at him.

"And you want _me_ to do it?" Ron replied with a snort.

"You do, and this, what I saw here? It never happened." Charlotte said as she gestured to the fence.

Ron milled it over in his head for a moment before thrusting out his hand.

"Deal." He said begrudgingly.

* * *

"You wanted to speak with me?"

"Ah, yes, please come in." Deanna said to Pete as she opened the door for him.

"Please sit." She said as she motioned to the couch in her living room.

"Would you like something to drink? Some tea perhaps."

"No, I would just like to know why I am here." Pete said tersely.

Deanna's face grew serious as she sat down across from him.

"Pete, it has been brought to my attention that you … threatened another member of our town the other day, and I called you here today to tell you that cannot continue to happen; I also _know_ what happens in your household behind closed doors, I have known for a while now and while I don't condone it, your private family matters are yours alone. What I will not tolerate is the threatening of other members of this community, and I called you here to tell you if I hear of it happening again, there will be consequences … consequences that will not be pleasant. Do I make myself clear?"

Although he was seething inside, Pete managed to paste what he hoped would pass as a pleasant smile on his face.

"Understood, Deanna, I apologize for my behavior, I was having a bad day and … just took it out on the first person I came into contact with." He lied easily.

Deanna smiled at him.

"Fair enough, have a nice day. Pete."

As Pete exited the house, he caught sight of Charlotte walking down the street, talking animatedly with her boyfriend, the hunter, and the samurai lady, whose name escaped him at the moment.

As if she sensed his burning glare, she turned to look at him, but instead of averting her eyes, as he was used to people doing, she glared right back at him. Her hunter boyfriend seemed to sense her change in mood, for he followed her gaze and met his as well.

He could feel the hatred emanating from this man as he tightened his grip around Charlotte's shoulders, without breaking eye contact, he drew his hunting knife and pointed the tip right at him in a clear warning of what awaited him if he touched _his_ woman again.

Charlotte gave him a knowing smirk before finally breaking contact as they passed Deanna's house, her man, the hunter however, continued to watch him until they had passed her house completely.

Revenge wasn't going to be as easy as he once thought, the little bitch was well protected, if he wanted to get to her, he would have to take care of her friends first.

* * *

Charlotte was roused by Daryl's rummaging around, a glance around the dark room told her there was still probably a few hours before dawn.

"Trying to sneak outta here without saying goodbye, huh?" She said sleepily as she sat up in bed.

The truth? He hated the phrase 'goodbye' like a cat hated the water; 'goodbye' meant you were never seeing the person again, or you weren't going to see them again for a long time.

He sat down next to her on the bed and drew her in close.

"How bout … I'll see ya when I get back?" he said as he rested his cheek on the top of her head.

"Sounds good to me, you be careful, now." She said as she pulled back to look into his brilliant blue eyes.

Daryl grinned at her. "Ain't I always?"

"It's not the walkers I'm worried about anymore, maybe I should come with you." She said as she got out of bed

"No." He said abtuptly

"But …"

"I said no! Don't you have that thing of yours to plan, anyway? And ain't you supposed to go on a supply run with Glenn and Spencer?" He said with a raised eyebrow.

"Well … yeah … but your safety is more important to me than a fucking concert, Daryl, and Spencer and Glenn would be just fine without me." Charlotte said, her frustration with him rising.

Sensing an impending fight, Daryl enveloped her in an embrace.

"Look, we need meat, spring is almost here, and the big game is gonna be moving around more now. This town's almost out of stored provisions … and let's face it, Glenn and Spencer need you more than I do." He said with a chuckle.

Charlotte blew out a sigh against his shoulder, she knew that Daryl was as stubborn as she was, and there was no convincing him once he made up his mind about something.

"You just hurry back, okay?" She said as she cupped his face in her small, dainty hands.

Daryl responded by kissing her hard, his tongue boldly entering her mouth to entangle with her own.

"I … I thought you said you had to go?" She said in the pauses between his hungry kisses as he began to back her toward the bed.

"I woke up early." He growled against her mouth as she felt the edge of the bed bump the backs of her legs.

"Excellent!" She replied as she fell back against the bed, pulling him with her.

* * *

"There you are! Where the hell have you been?" Spencer said as Charlotte jogged up to them.

"I … overslept." She said, catching Glenn's eye, and they shared the amusement of the inside joke Spencer wasn't in on.

"Well, now that we are all here, let's get a move on." Spencer said as they piled into the car and were off.

"So, where we goin'?" Charlotte asked Spencer, who was driving.

"There is a small resort town about ten miles from here, but ... it was really overrun and we could never get close, we didn't have the … uh … expertise." He said, Charlotte's expression softened towards the young man, knowing that was a hard thing for him to admit.

"Hey, don't feel bad, dude, this ain't an easy world to get on in anymore." She said

"Gavin didn't want to come today?" Glenn asked, noticing the german shepherd's absence.

"Naw, he decided to accompany Daryl today, I think they _both_ needed their woodsy time." Charlotte said with a laugh, Glenn chuckled in reply as he turned his attention back toward the road.

* * *

Daryl and Gavin made their way through the forest, it was quiet … too quiet, especially for early spring, there should be birds singing, and the sounds of various woodland animals going about their business, but there was neither … and that meant one of two things; that there were walkers in the area, or there was a large predator in the area. Personally, Daryl hoped for the latter.

Suddenly, Gavin stopped, his hackles went up and he pushed himself against Daryl as a means to protect him, Daryl supposed it was held over from his years of police training. He could feel the low rumbling growl reverberating through the dog's large body.

Daryl readied his rifle, as much as he loved his crossbow, he had no choice but to use a rifle for larger game like elk, and bear. Suddenly, a figure exploded out of the underbrush to his right, but Gavin was quicker and he was on him in a second, his teeth sinking into the man's arm.

Daryl drew his knife and rushed to help the dog, just then he was tackled from behind by a second assailant with such force that it sent them both crashing to the ground. Daryl's head hit the hard, rocky ground hard, knocking him semi-conscious. He struggled to shake the fog out of his head as he struggled with the small built man who had remarkable strength for his size.

Daryl heard Gavin yelp and adrenaline coursed through his veins, this piece of shit wasn't getting the better of him, that was for damn sure. He threw a punishing right hook that hammered the man right in the side of the head, knocking him out.

Whatever the first asshole had done to Gavin, seemed to enrage him, going against his police training, the huge dog launched himself at the man's throat, ripping it open from jugular to jugular, and almost decapitating him. The man fell to the forest floor, his dying breaths ending in gurgling spasms as he bled out.

"You messed with the wrong two sumbitches." Daryl said breathlessly as he put a bolt right between his attacker's eyes with his crossbow.

"Hey, buddy, ya ok?" He said, turning his attention to the dog, Gavin was bleeding from a knife wound to his shoulder, but it looked like he would live. As the adrenaline from the ordeal wore off, Daryl winced as he felt a sudden searing pain in his right side. He lifted up his shirt and cursed as he discovered he had been stabbed some time during the struggle, and by the looks of it, it was bad.

Gavin limped up to him, a concerned look on his face, could a dog even convey concern?

"Shit!" Daryl cursed through gritted teeth as the remainder of the adrenaline wore off and the full force of the pain hit him. He could feel the clammy wetness spreading, he looked down to see the dark stain of blood growing, he had to find something to stop the bleeding, and soon, or he would pass out from blood loss.

Despite being injured himself, Gavin pushed his head under Daryl's arm and leaned against him as he walked.

"Thanks, pal." Daryl said as he pulled off his sweatshirt and pressed it against his wound, he had to find something to treat it, and soon.

Then, it was as if whatever deity on high decided to take pity on him, and he stumbled onto the edge of a small valley filled with Yarrow. He harvested several plants, ground them into a poultice and packed his wound with the substance. After a minute or so of stinging like hell, his wound began to feel slightly better, he tied his sweatshirt around his middle and turned to Gavin.

"Your turn, boy, this is gonna hurt, but it'll make it feel better." He said as he packed the dog's stab wound with the thick substance. Just then, the dog's huge ears swiveled forward, Daryl soon heard it too, voices.

"… Son of a bitch! His throat's been ripped clean out!"

"Walkers?"

"No, looks like some kind of predator, maybe a dog!"

"Shit Mike's dead, too!"

"Spread out, they couldn't have gone far, not after losing that much blood."

* * *

 _Notes: Wow! Sorry for taking so long to update! I have been so busy with the holidays, and life, and all that, also, sorry I had to end it there, it was already way too long! I promise to update soon! Also thank you everyone for all the faves and follows, I can't tell you what they mean to me!_


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 _Notes: Thank you all again for all the wonderful reviews and favorites, I know this story is quite a long read, thanks to all who took it on ^_^_

"Oh … Christ!" Charlotte said as they rolled up onto the small tourist town, overrun wasn't the word for it, there were too many walkers to count … thousands upon thousands of them. The ones near enough to hear the car were already turning toward them, their teeth clicking hungrily.

"Well, let's lead out as many as we can, and deal with any stragglers." Charlotte said as she got out of the car.

"HEY! Looky here! Fresh meat, come and get it!" she said as she put her fingers to her mouth and blew a long, shrill whistle, trying to get as many to follow their car as possible.

"Alright, let's take it slow, keep just out of their reach. This is gonna take a while, with a herd this big, we're gonna have to take them at least twenty miles out." She said as she slid back into the back seat.

"Geeze, this whole town must have been turned, then just never left!" Aaron said as he eyed the huge herd in his rear view mirror.

"It only takes one, things go to shit quick after that, trust me." Charlotte said as she looked out the dingy rear window at the huge herd.

"Aww geeze! Some are starting to break off into the woods!" Aaron said.

"That can't be helped, the goal is to keep as many of them following us as possible." Glenn said as he reached across and honked the horn a couple of times.

"This is going to be a long, stressful trip." Aaron said as he rubbed his hand over his face.

"Yep. So … anyone want to play I Spy, or twenty questions?" Charlotte quipped.

* * *

Suddenly, Daryl heard a shout from one of the men.

"Walkers! Tons of em! Let's get the hell out of here!" One of them said, his voice colored with panic.

"What about that asshole?" Another voice said.

"Screw him! If he's still around, the walkers'll take care of him!" Came the other man's reply.

Daryl could hear the shuffling gates and the hungry growls getting closer to his hiding place, a thicket of brush would offer no protection from walkers, he had no choice but to move, he just hoped like hell those assholes were out of the area by now.

His injured side protested the decision to move and he gritted his teeth against the searing pain; it hurt like hell, even for someone as tough as him.

He knew the walkers would be preoccupied with consuming the bodies of the two men he had killed, and he wanted to put as much distance between them and him before it lost their interest.

"Come on, Gavin, let's go." He said as he took hold of the dog's collar and let the dog take the lead. As dusk approached, they came out of the woods and almost ran headlong into a fence. They followed it and found it to be some kind of tourist attraction, probably fenced to protect camping patrons from bears back in the day, complete with a gate, but it had been automatic, which means he would have to fashion something quick, because he was losing light … and strength … and fast.

* * *

"Okay, that makes twenty miles, I think that's far enough." Charlotte said.

"Take that one up ahead, the map says it wraps around back to the highway." Glenn said.

"We're not gonna make it back there before dark, do you think we should just leave it and go home?" Charlotte said.

"We'll see what it looks like when we get there, if it looks too sketchy or if there are still some walkers in there, then we'll close the gate and come back and clear it tomorrow." Glenn said, Charlotte nodded at him in agreement as they all fell into a comfortable silence.

"So … what did you two do before all this happened?" Aaron said as they approached the highway.

"Believe it or not, I delivered pizzas." Glenn said with a grin.

"I was an aspiring model." Charlotte said, Aaron looked at her in shock for a split second before quickly hiding it.

"I know, hard to believe it by looking at me now, isn't it?" She said, as if she had read his mind.

"No … that's not … I'm sorry … I didn't mean to be rude." Aaron stammered, his face reddening in embarrassment.

"Don't worry, I am not offended." She said as she dug into her pocket and pulled out a small picture.

"Here is proof." She said as she showed it to both Glenn and Aaron.

"Wow!" Aaron said as his eyes grew wide in the dim light of the dark car.

"Damn!" Glenn said with a sheepish grin. It _looked_ like the same person, they could tell it was, but … then again … it didn't.

"That was my audition photo I used to hand out when I was looking for work." Charlotte said as she looked at the picture with a nostalgic look on her face.

Glenn looked at her sadly, this woman, who was an incredible person inside AND out had lost so much, and while he didn't claim to be any kind of expert on women, he did know enough to understand that thinking they had lost their beauty was a tough pill for any woman to swallow, no matter how down to earth or simple she was.

"You're an incredible person, Charlotte, don't you ever forget that. I mean, you lassoed Daryl, that's quite an accomplishment right there." Glenn said, and Charlotte laughed in spite of herself.

* * *

The plastic casing around the motor that had once operated the gate have way with one kick from Daryl. The motor was so rusted and corroded, that it wouldn't take much to dislodge it.

Daryl steeled himself against the pain the action of dislodging the motor would likely cause, but he had no other choice, the area was crawling with walkers … and living people.

"Alright, buddy … here goes nothin' …" he said as he wedged his crowbar under the motor and pushed down with all his might. A roar escaped him as searing pain ripped through his body, but the old motor gave way.

With hands trembling from the pain, he pushed the gate closed, he lifted up his shirt and saw fresh blood staining the sweatshirt he was using as a compress and he cursed. The act, although necessary had cost him, his wound had opened up and was now bleeding profusely again, he just prayed he had the strength left to make more yarrow poultice.

"C'mon bud, let … let's find some place to sleep for the night." He told the dog as he took hold of his collar.

They chose what Daryl assumed used to be a gift shop; there were old, rotted remains of various knickknacks still left on the shelves, neatly arranged, forgotten by time and people alike.

He made some yarrow paste and coated both his and Gavin's wounds with it, then, he fashioned himself a bed out of some novelty pillows he found, with a tablecloth as a blanket. Luckily for them, spring was upon them and the nights were no longer bitterly cold.

* * *

"What the …?!" Glenn said as they pulled up to the gate to find it closed.

"What do you think?" Aaron said, looking to Glenn and Charlotte.

"I say we get in there, and flush the sumbitch out, we didn't go to all this trouble clearing this place out only to have someone else swoop in and take it, fuck that!" She said as she drew her desert eagles.

In the darkness, Gavin's head shot up and a quiet growl rumbled deep in his throat, Daryl groaned, sure enough, outside, he heard voices. He grabbed his crossbow, drew his handgun and crept forward, despite the agony he was in a huge, relieved grin crossed his face as he saw just who it was.

"Look, Gavin, it's your momma." He said as he sent the dog forward.

Charlotte heard a scuffling sound in the darkness, it wasn't walkers or people, it sounded like an animal. Before she could react, a huge, furry figure launched himself out of the darkness and tackled her to the ground.

"Gavin?! You bastard, I almost shot you!" She said as the dog grabbed her shirt sleeve and pulled her toward the first line of buildings. A wave of dread and panic washed over her as she remembered that Gavin had gone with Daryl this morning.

"Show me." She said as she motioned for the others to follow her.

"Oh, god, Daryl what the hell happened?" She said as dropped to her knees next to him, a grimace crossed her face as she peeled back the sweatshirt he had been using as a compress.

"Came across some assholes in the woods, they jumped us, Gavin's hurt, too." He said through gritted teeth.

"Get the first aid kit out of the car!" Charlotte said to Aaron.

"See, I knew I should have gone with you." She said as she took her jacket off and balled it up into a makeshift pillow for him to lie back on as Aaron came back with the first aid kit.

"H-help Gavin, he got hurt too." Daryl said through gritted teeth as he tried to sit up.

"First thing's first." Charlotte said as she pushed him back against her coat and prepared to clean and dress the wound.

"Aww, geez." Charlotte said before she could stop herself. The cut was deep, she was sure it had broken at least one of his ribs, she glanced up at Glenn, who shared her look of worry.

"I know, it's bad. Jus … do what you can for it, til we can get back, I'll live." Daryl said.

"He's right, I don't see any other choice." Glenn agreed.

Charlotte blew out a frustrated breath, she had to fight the overwhelming urge to throw Daryl into the back seat of the car and motor back to Alexandria with the petal to the floor.

"Okay … we'll do what we can here." She said, albeit with a scowl.

"I'll take first watch, then Aaron." Glenn said as he gave her a knowing smile.

"That'll work." She said as she smiled back, silently thinking him.

* * *

The night, thank god, had been uneventful, and at first light, they prepared to leave. Glenn helped Charlotte get Daryl into the back seat, and she slid in next to him, her gun drawn, just in case. Glenn drove, Aaron rode shotgun.

"Close the gate back, we're gonna need to come back here, and I don't want any more walkers to get in." Glenn called after Aaron as he got out.

"Now Glenn, be nice. Remember they've been nestled away in that town of theirs since all this began, they haven't had it rough like we had." Charlotte said with a wink as she caught his exasperated expression in the mirror.

"Bunch of pansies, every last one of em'… don't even know how to use a gun." Daryl interjected.

"Now you be nice, both of you!" Charlotte scolded them, though her face harbored a grin as Aaron got back in the car and they were off once more.

* * *

"My god, what happened?" Denise said as Charlotte and Glenn helped Daryl lie down on one of the gurneys.

"Ran into some trouble." Daryl said as Denise peeled back the bandage.

"Oh geez … I can't treat this … I … I'm not qualified to …" She trailed off.

"Please, Denise, you have to, you're our only choice." Charlotte pleaded.

"If you just let me fetch Pete … I …"

"You bring that no good sumbitch in here and I'll kill em! You hear me?!" Daryl interjected, seething as he vaulted up off the bed, Glenn and Aaron restrained him.

"I am sure you heard what happened between him and me." Charlotte said, the two women held each other's gaze for a moment before Denise's hardened and she rolled up her sleeves.

"Do you have any kind of medical training at all?" She asked Charlotte.

"Well … my sister was a nurse, but …"

"Good, I'm gonna need your help, suit up." She said as she handed her a box of surgical gloves.

"You two are going to have to hold him down, have him bite this." Denise said as she handed them a piece of wood.

"It looks like the knife broke one of his ribs, I'll do what I can, but most of this is just going to take time." She said as she began cleaning and stitching the wound.

Daryl growled against the pain as he writhed under Aaron and Glenn's hold; he was tough, but this pain was terrible, and almost to the end of what even he could tolerate.

"Hold him still! There is a fragment of bone lodged in the wound from his broken rib, I have to get it out, if I don't, it could puncture his lung, or sever an artery!" Denise bellowed at Glenn and Aaron.

"I can do this myself, just help them keep him still!" She yelled at Charlotte, who ripped her gloves of f and grabbed his legs. Then, suddenly, Daryl went limp.

"Wait … what happened?!" Charlotte said as she ran to him, Denise checked on him.

"He just passed out from the pain." She said as she went back and continued working.

"There! I got it!" Denise said as she pulled out the shard of bone with a horrid sucking sound.

" _Now_ we can stitch this up!" She said triumphantly as she plopped the piece of bone along with the forceps into a metal tray next to the gurney.

"Thanks guys." Charlotte said to Glenn and Aaron, they nodded to her in response, offering weary smiles as they made their exit.

"See? You are an amazing surgeon, more than you give yourself credit for." Charlotte said as she put her hand on Denise's shoulder.

"I was almost a year into my residency, when I had a nervous breakdown, I just … couldn't take the pressure … then all this happened. Pete and I were called into the hospital, when things started to get really bad, they called _everyone_ in, because they needed all the help they could get. But it was no use, it all went to shit anyway." Denise said.

"Didn't it, though?" Charlotte said as she offered her a smile.

"I hope you don't think me rude, but I have to say, that was quite a horrific injury there." She said, referring to her missing eye.

Charlotte nodded as she lifted up the patch for her to see, she didn't mind medical professionals looking at it. To be honest, she had, for the most part, moved past her shame of it, and had begun to wear it almost with a since of pride. A testament to what she had been through … _and_ what didn't … or rather _couldn't_ kill her.

"Son of a bitch!" Denise said, almost in awe before she could stop herself. "Oh god! I'm sorry! That was so rude!" She said as she clapped a hand over her mouth.

Charlotte wordlessly waved her embarrassment off.

"It too your eye and everything! What did this, a bullet?" Denise asked.

"Some bastard with a hunting knife." Charlotte said as she pulled her patch back down. Just then, Daryl began to stir.

"I can take care of him, you get yourself some rest." Charlotte said.

Denise smiled thankfully and left her to it, it was then Daryl decided to awake with start, he bolted upright in the bed, ranting incoherently about Pete and something about killing him.

"Whoa! Whoa! Easy there, cowboy! You've just had surgery!" Charlotte said as she restrained him.

"Where is the sumbitch, I'll kill em!" Daryl raged as he strained against her.

"Pete? But why …?" Charlotte questioned, more to herself than him and she suddenly remembered that was the last thing they had discussed before he passed out, and in his delusional, disoriented state hopped up on antibiotics and painkillers, he might hallucinate about what had transpired.

"Easy, Daryl _easy_! There is no Pete! Denise operated on you, I swear, I was here the entire time, you'd think I'd let that bastard touch you?" Charlotte said as she stroked, his cold, clammy forehead.

Daryl ceased all movement and looked at her as the feral look in is bright blue eyes began to dissipate and he allowed her to push him back against the pillow.

"What time s'it?" He asked groggily as she covered him with a blanket.

"I don't know, I don't ever know anymore, why?" She replied as she tucked the blanket around him and fetched one to make a bed for Gavin, who had chosen to sleep under Daryl's hospital bed.

"Have you even been to sleep? You look like hell." He pointed out.

"Well thank you, honey. I love you, too." She said dryly

"Charlotte I mean it, I want you to get your ass home and get some rest."

"Oh, I am gonna get some rest, but I'm not going home. If you're sleeping here, so am I." She said as she pointed to another bed in the corner.

Daryl's disapproval of her sleeping choice came out in the form of a low growl as he allowed his head to fall back against the pillow. He hated it, he wished she would just go home to sleep and stop treating him like some little kid that needed watching over, but he knew better than to argue with her once she mad made up that mind of hers.

"Night!" She called to him from across the room.

He grunted in reply as pulled the blanket up around his chin, his eyelids were so heavy, he could feel the long, spidery tentacles of drug-induced unconsciousness reaching up to claim him and he had no choice but to let it, he didn't have the strength to fight it.

* * *

Charlotte's eye snapped open and she momentarily panicked in the inky darkness of the infirmary. Then she awakened fully and her senses returned to her, and she remembered where she was, and what had happened, she must have slept through the rest of the day and into the night.

Then, her keen ears suddenly picked up the sound of keys jingling, the lock clicking open, and the door slowly opening with an unsettling creaking sound.

She heard Gavin get up and come and join her, his large feet padding softly on the hardwood floor. Her heart came to reside in her throat as she watched Pete creep in like the rat he was.

She _knew_ it, she didn't want to tell this to Daryl, but she had a terrible feeling something like this might happen. She went for her gun as Pete crept toward Daryl's bed, but it would make too much noise, so she opted for her knife instead.

She motioned for Gavin to lie down and stay, as she, with her knife drawn eased off the bed and crept forward to come at him from behind just as Pete raised his knife, aiming to plunge it into Daryl's forehead.

 _I am sorry for the delay in updating, I have been very ill recently, and have had to catch up on a few other things before I had time to work on this. Hope you all enjoy it ^_^_


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

 _Notes: I would just like to say thank you to everyone who has given this story (and its prequels) traffic, I really, really appreciate it!_

* * *

Charlotte launched herself at Pete from behind and plunged her knife into his leg, aiming for his femoral artery. Pete let out a yell as Gavin clamped down on his wrist with his vice like jaws, forcing him to drop the knife.

With a bellow, he brought his fist down hard as he could onto the top of the dog's head, knocking the senses out of him and forcing him to let go before turning on Charlotte.

"Tried to hit my artery didn't you, you little bitch? Well too bad for you, because you missed. But that isn't the first time you've tried that and missed, is it?" He said as he pulled her knife out of his leg and advanced on her.

"Maybe I shouldn't kill you, maybe I'll gouge your _other_ eye out, make you live totally blind in this world." He said as he advanced on her.

Suddenly, the metallic click of a gun being cocked rang into the silence of the dark room, Pete wheeled around to see Daryl standing holding his bandaged side, and pointing his revolver, the one he had taken off that guy they had found in the tent while they were looking for Sophia so many years ago right at his head.

Without flinching, without even blinking, Daryl pulled the trigger, the shot rang out into the silence of the night, Charlotte shielded her face from the spray of blood and brain matter as Pete crumpled to the ground in a heap.

"What'd I tell ya, huh?! Touch her again and I'd kill ya, didn't I? You piece of shit!" Daryl raged at Pete's corpse as he kicked it several times.

"Oh Christ… Daryl … you've gone and done it, now. This asshole was their _doctor_ what are we gonna tell them?!" Charlotte said as she ran her hands through her hair.

"Fuck all these pansy ass sumbitches! I'm gonna tell em the truth! That he was a good for nothing piece of shit!" Daryl said, still seething as he paced back and forth like an angry animal.

Suddenly, Rick, Michonne and Carl burst into the infirmary, scaring them both.

"Oh, shit!" Michonne cursed at the scene before her.

"I know, tell me about it." Charlotte said as she ran her hand over her face.

"He had it comin', Rick, you know the good for nothin' bastard had it COMIN'!" Daryl bellowed, still holding onto his side and grimacing as the adrenaline left him and the pain from his exertion set in.

"Deanna's not gonna see it that way." Michonne whispered to Rick.

"I know." Rick said as he ran his hand through his hair.

* * *

"Rick, this is very serious, I thought I made it clear that killing a living person was not to be tolerated inside these walls, and that the behavior of your people was your responsibility?" Deanna said to Rick, Charlotte, and Daryl first thing the next morning.

"Pete was out of control, he threatened me, and he would have _killed_ Daryl if I hadn't been there to stop him, and he was _going_ to kill me if Daryl hadn't shot him." Charlotte said, willing herself to be patient, this woman and the people who lived in her town weren't like them, they didn't know what it took to survive.

"Is that what I am supposed to say to Jessie and her boys?" Deanna quipped.

"Then let me talk to them." Charlotte replied, holding the older woman's gaze.

Deanna stared back at Charlotte, thinking it over. "Okay, against my better judgement, I will allow that." She said with a sigh as they all stood.

"Consider it my punishment." Charlotte replied.

"I will be honest with you, the only reason why I am not kicking all of you out is because apparently, you all have made your friends here, and a lot of people in this community vouched for you. I suggest you thank them." Deanna said as Spencer walked them out.

"Just so you know, one of those people was me." Spencer whispered to them as he opened the door for them.

PAGE BREAK

"Charlotte …!" Jessie said as she opened the door.

"Jessie … hi … I was wondering, might I come in?" Charlotte said as she cleared her throat uncomfortably.

Jessie nodded and stepped back and motioned for her to enter.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" Jessie asked as she headed toward the kitchen.

Just as Charlotte opened her mouth to answer, Ron came in from the kitchen with Sam following close behind.

"You!" he said, his voice and expression full of hate.

"Now Ron, please! ..." Jessie began.

"No, mom! This stupid bitch and her jerk off boyfriend murdered our dad!"

"Ron, that's enough! I will NOT have you talk to people that way in this house! You get yourself up to your room NOW! I will be up to deal with you as soon as I am done here!" Jessie said, her face reddening in mortification at her son's behavior.

Ron gave Jessie and Charlotte a murderous look as he grabbed his brother's hand.

"Come on, Sam." He said, but Sam jerked his hand out of his brother's grasp.

"No, Ron! I'm ... I'm _glad_ Charlotte and Daryl did what they did! Dad was a bad person, he was hurting mom, and you, and me!" Sam said as he dashed toward Charlotte and hugged her tightly around the middle.

"Thank you." He said as he looked up at her with shimmering eyes.

"Uhhhh … sure." Charlotte said she patted him awkwardly on the head, this almost had her wishing he had been mad at her too.

Sam released her and bounded up the stairs after his brother, it wasn't until Jessie heard both doors slam that they began to talk.

"Look, I just wanted to come and apologize you know … for the way things went down." Charlotte said as they exited the house and sat on the porch swing outside.

"Pete wasn't always abusive, you know, at first it was only when he was mad, or tired from pulling a double shift at the hospital, or having a bad time at work, like if he lost someone. I was blind, then I found out I was pregnant …. Twice. It was such a blessing, because I was told that I would probably never be able to have children, and I wanted them so badly. Pete was wonderful through both pregnancies and it gave me hope that maybe the kids coming along would make things better … I was stupid, and delusional, and blinded by love." Jessie said as she paused to wipe her eyes before continuing.

"Then, the world went to shit, everything happened so fast, all I remember is Pete racing in, telling us what was going on, and he had Denise with him." Jessie said as she paused to wipe her eyes.

"We were on the road for a while, then, Spencer found us, learned that Denise was a resident and that Pete was a surgeon, and asked us to come live in their community. We had two small boys, life on the road was getting tougher as things got worse, and that's how we ended up here." Jessie finished.

Charlotte milled over her story as she took out a pack of Kools she had found on one of their supply runs and lit one, then, after a moment of thinking, offered one to Jessie. The poor woman looked like she could use a smoke, to her surprise, Jessie obliged.

"You know, I quit right before all this happened? Bad timing, huh?" She said with a laugh as she took a deep drag.

Charlotte chuckled. "Same here."

* * *

"Son of a bitch!" Negan said as he beat the ground with his bat, Lucile.

"That fucking redneck and his one-eyed floosy have been a thorn in my side from day one! Now they've gone and killed my inside source to that fucking place!" he growled, his face crimson with rage.

"Boss, the wolves are getting restless, what do you want me to tell them?"

Negan smiled cruelly. "Tell them to sit on that place for now, the last thing I heard, half of the group was going out on a huge supply run soon, that means most of their best people will be away. That's when we'll move."

* * *

It had been three weeks since the incident with Pete had happened, and everyone, even Deanna seemed to have put it behind them and moved on.

"Where'd Daryl get off to so early this morning?" Rick asked when he didn't see his archer friend at breakfast that morning.

"I don't know, but we were up about the same time, and when I asked him, I was promptly told to _'mind my own fucking business'_." Abraham said with a chuckle.

"Well, he took one of the cars, so it wasn't a hunting trip." Glenn quipped.

Suddenly, Charlotte noticed that all eyes were on her, as if they expected her to have the answer.

"Don't look at _me_ , I had night watch last night, remember? He was gone by the time I got home." She said.

Concern suddenly clouded Rick's eyes, it wasn't like Daryl to up just run off in a car without telling even Charlotte where he was going and the pessimist in him just couldn't help but worry that something had either come up ... or had gone wrong. His gaze met Charlotte's and his concerns were verified, because her expression of concern and worry mirrored his.

"Excuse me, I need to speak to Deanna about something." Charlotte said as she abruptly left the table, leaving the others of the group to exchange confused looks.

* * *

"Charlotte, hello, what can I do for you?" Deanna said as she invited her in, if she was still sore at her and Daryl about what happened with Pete, she didn't show it. That woman sure had one hell of a poker face.

"I was wondering if you still wanted to do that little shindig we had talked about, we never did get to put it on with … everything that happened." Charlotte said as she rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably.

"Do you still want to provide the entertainment?" Deanna asked as they sat down in the squishy recliners in her living room.

"Yes … but … I still need a drummer." Charlotte said.

"Ahhh yes, you were going to ask Ron." Deanna said

"Yeah … but he doesn't want anything to do with me, which I understand completely, but I think it's best if we keep our distance from each other, at least for now." Charlotte said as Spencer walked in.

"Spencer! Perfect timing! You played in the marching band in high school and college, do you think you can still do it?" Deanna asked.

"Sure, yeah, I mean I might need a week or two to practice, you know, to get back into it." He said.

Charlotte grinned. "Perfect, we can practice together, I haven't touched a guitar in months, and I am sure I'll be rusty, too."

"Great, name the time and place." Spencer replied.

"How about my garage, bout … eight tonight?" She offered.

"I'll be there." He replied.

* * *

"Still not back?" Rick said as he joined Charlotte where she had been keeping a vigil at the front gate since after her practice with Spencer after dinner.

"I won't lie, law man, I'm worried. It's not like him to just … up and leave without telling at least you, or me. He took a vehicle, so I know he didn't go on a hunting trip … I don't know I just …" she trailed off as a lump formed in her throat.

"He wasn't acting right either, you know? This past week he's been really … distant and secretive." She said, her voice cracking with despair as tears welled up in her eye.

Rick pursed his lips together, in his experience (especially with having a friend like Shane), when men grew distant and secretive, it usually meant they had someone else on the side.

The thought of Daryl doing that to Charlotte put a really bad taste in his mouth, he just couldn't imagine his friend doing something like that. But, it _was_ the end of the world, and it wasn't like societal rules and guidelines mattered anymore anyway; though, come to think of it, he couldn't imagine that Daryl ever followed them to begin with.

He put a hand on Charlotte's shoulder as he gave her what he hoped was a convincing smile.

"I am sure everything's fine, Charlotte. Daryl always has his reasons for doing what he does, and they always make sense in the end." He offered.

Charlotte looked at him shrewdly and he knew that she saw right through his ruse.

"Thanks." She said as Maggie walked up to them.

"Whoops, guess it my turn for tower watch tonight, catch ya later, law man." She said as she bid them ado.

"What was that all about?" Maggie said as she watched her go.

Rick blew out a ragged breath. "Daryl … he just upped and left early this morning, he took a car and didn't tell anyone, not even Charlotte where he was going and he's been really … distant and secretive to everyone … even her all week."

"You think he's cheating on her?" Maggie said.

Rick looked at her in amused surprise, woman's intuition … it would never ceased to amaze him. "That's what I am kind of afraid of. That's usually how men act when they … have one on the side." He replied.

"Look … this is Daryl we're talking about … our _friend_! I think we owe it to him to give him the benefit of the doubt." She said.

"You're right, I just wish he wouldn't do shit like this, it puts stress on all of us." Rick replied as he ran his hand through his greying hair.

"I am sure he had a really good reason." Maggie said with a shrug as she turned and headed for home.

* * *

"Daryl still not back yet?" Glenn asked as Maggie came through the door.

"Nope." Maggie said with a sigh.

"You think he's doing something bad." Glenn said.

"I don't know … I sure as hell hope not." She replied.

"Look, we've known Daryl for a long time, and he always has his reasons for doing the things that he does, even if they don't make sense to us." Glenn said as she joined him on the couch.

"Reasons aside, when you guys do shit like this, a woman's mind always jumps to the worst case scenario, we just can't help it." Maggie replied as Glenn put his arm around her and drew her in close against him and rested his cheek on the top of her head.

"I'm sure everything's fine, if anyone knows how to survive, it's Daryl." Glenn said, his words came out reassuring, but in all honesty, he was as stumped by Daryl's behavior as everyone else. He just hoped to god that whatever he was out doing had honorable intentions.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

 **Disclaimer: I DO NOT own any of these songs, mkay?**

* * *

Daryl put the petal down on the car, it had been five days that he'd been away and he was anxious to get back. The trip was only forty miles but thanks to the state the world was in now, it had been a long and arduous one.

Before they had found their way to Alexandria, they had cased out large mall, hoping to stay there, but it turned out to be too overrun by walkers and there was no way to clear it. He knew it had been risky, but what he wanted was special, and that mall was the only place around for miles that had it.

His foot pushed further down on the accelerator as the excitement of seeing Charlotte's expression; the daylight was slowly relinquishing its control to night, soon he would have to find somewhere to stop. Just one more … one more dark and lonely night, then he would be back in her arms again; he couldn't wait.

* * *

"Hey, we're on, you ready?" Spencer said, snapping Charlotte out of her thoughts.

"Huh? Oh … yeah, let's do it." She said as she walked out onto the stage.

Charlotte blushed as she walked out to cheers and claps from what looked like the entire town, she knew it wasn't much, but it made her feel like a rock star, and it was just the lift her spirits needed.

"I'll follow your lead." Spencer said as he nodded to her.

Charlotte cleared her throat. "I'm sure ya'll know all of these, so here we go." she said as she began the unmistakable riffs of _'Smoke on the water'_.

"It's just like being at a concert, isn't it?" Jessie shouted over the music as she came to stand next to Rick.

"Oh, yeah, if this shit ever manages to right itself, she might have a promising second career." Rick replied.

On went the concert for about an hour, until Charlotte announced an intermission, and put in a CD.

"Pirate, that was _killer_!" Michonne said as Charlotte joined her, Maggie and Glenn with a plate of food.

"Thanks, it feels good to sing and play again, it's one of the few times I can just … lose myself in the music and forget the shithole we live in for a little while." Charlotte said as a sad, faraway look crossed her scarred face.

"Look … either I am staying with you, or you are staying over with me, but you ain't staying another night alone in that house, it ain't doing you any good." Michonne scolded her.

Charlotte gave her samurai friend an annoyed look, but she knew there was no use in arguing.

"Fine … I'll be over when it's all done here." She said begrudgingly.

"Don't worry, it'll be fun! We'll have hot chocolate, and paint each other's nails." She said humorously as she threw her arm around Charlotte's shoulders, Charlotte laughed in spite of herself as the crowd started to clap in rhythm.

"Well, I guess that's my cue that my hour is up, see ya back at home." She said as she headed back toward the stage.

* * *

"Oh, lord, I'm exhausted!" Charlotte said as she walked into Michonne's house and collapsed onto the couch.

"Hot chocolate?" Michonne quipped

"If you don't mind, I could go for something a tad stronger." Charlotte replied.

"Got your medicine right here, girl." She said as she sat a bottle of Jim Beam town on the coffee table with two glasses.

"You didn't think I'd let you drink alone, did you?" Michonne said with a smile as she filled the two glasses and handed one to her.

"Here's to the men in our lives, and to forgetting the crazy shit they do." She said as they toasted glasses.

* * *

"Daryl! Welcome back!" The man on gate duty said cheerfully as he waved him through shortly after dawn the next morning. Daryl waved haphazardly at him as he drove through and didn't stop until be reached their house.

Gavin met him at the door, his long brush-like tail sweeping back and forth as he whined with excitement and licked him all over.

"Hey, there, buddy. Where's your momma?" He asked, as if on cue, the front door opened slowly and Charlotte stumbled in wearing a pair of dark glasses, her skin was pale and pasty. He didn't even have to ask what she had been doing, he just knew.

"You're drunk!" He accused as she eased onto the couch.

"Correction, I'm hung over." Charlotte said as she eased herself into a lying position. "Don't get your undies knotted over it, I stayed over at Michonne's last night." She said as she put her hand to her forehead.

"Shit, girl, you look like hell, how much did ya'll drink?!" Daryl said as he sat beside her.

"The whole damn bottle between the two of us." She said with a groan as her skull pounded.

"C'mon, might as well get your ass to bed, you ain't goin' to be any use to anyone today, anyhow." He said as he scooped her up and carried her to the bedroom. He gently laid her on the bed and covered her with a blanket, and she was out as soon as her head hit the pillow … which meant what he had rushed home so early in the morning for would have to wait.

' _SHIT!'_ he cursed to himself.

* * *

Charlotte slept all that day and into the next morning, she awoke to see the sun lazily filtering through the windows, bathing their bedroom in a soft light.

"Bout time you got your ass up." Daryl said as she walked into the kitchen, rubbing her eye like a lazy teenager.

"Remind me to never drink again, okay?" she said as she headed to the shower, peeling off her clothes as she went.

"We need to talk." He said as she came out, dressed for the day and feeling almost human again.

"You're right, we do, because first you've been a secretive asshole all week, then you take off and don't tell _anyone_ … not even _me_ where you are going, or why." She said, her gaze not leaving his.

"I had a reason." He replied as he dug into the side pocket of his cargo pants.

"It'd better be one hell of a good one, Daryl." She quipped as she crossed her arms in front of her.

"Oh, I think it was." He said as he presented a small velvet box to her and opened it to reveal a beautiful one carat diamond set in white gold.

Charlotte was speechless … she looked from the ring to Daryl as tears welled up in her eye.

"Look, in this shithole of a world … I don't know what we'd be called anymore … but I'd like to think ... that …. that could call ourselves married." Daryl said as he slipped the ring on her left ring finger.

Charlotte looked at the ring on her finger in shock for what seemed like an eternity, Daryl remained silent, he merely waited for her to speak.

It seemed like a fortnight before she found her voice.

"Daryl I … I …. I'm so sorry … all this time I thought ... that you were …. Cheating on me! Oh, god! I feel like such a piece of shit right now, I should have known better." Charlotte said as she buried her face in her hands as the tears came.

Daryl blew out a harsh sigh; _that_ was why he did this in the first place, he wanted to give her _something_ that would solidify their relationship in her mind, and in her heart so she would never have to question his devotion to her.

He grabbed her hands and pulled them away from her face, forcing her to look at him.

He had always sucked at this shit …. This business of sharing ... _feelings_ , and talking about them to _anyone_ , let alone someone he was this deeply involved with.

' _Well, fuck it.'_ he thought to himself.

"I know that you've always been thinkin' that I am just with you til' some better piece of ass better comes along or something, I hope this proves that … ain't never gonna happen." He said as he pinned her with his intense, blue eyed stare.

Tears spilled out of Charlotte's eye as she threw her arms around Daryl's neck.

"I'm sorry, Daryl, for doubting your feelings for me, and I promise, I'll _never_ do it again. I love you …. Husband." She hissed seductively into his ear.

A growl rose up from Daryl's throat as he pushed had back away from him and kissed her hard.

* * *

"Geez! There you two are, you're like … an hour late!" Glenn scolded Daryl and Charlotte, all the while his face harboring a coy smile as they trotted up to him and Michonne.

Today was the day they had all been dreading, today was the huge supply run they would have to do. The winter months and the injuries they had had really depleted their supplies of drugs, and for that, they were going to have to hit a big city.

"It looks like from this, Arlington is going to be our best bet for everything we need." Glenn said.

"Shit I hate this, I hate going into a big city." Michonne said, Charlotte knew it was living people she feared running into, not the dead. They all knew too well that the rats and roaches always congregated in the cities.

"We don't have any other choice, we've drained all the small towns dry of supplies over the winter." Glenn said.

"Well, we can stand around here bitchin' about it, or we can just go and get it done." Daryl said.

"My sentiments exactly, let's go." Charlotte agreed as they piled into the Tucson.

"Good bunch of people you've got there." Deanna said to Rick as she joined him as he watched their car disappear around the bend.

"They're like family to me." Rick replied, his eyes still on the road.

"I know, I can see that, and I can also see now that you all were right about Pete, I was the one that was wrong; about how we handle people like him, about everything … and I wanted to say that I am sorry. We have been isolated away from the outside world for so long that it just … took us a while to catch up." She said as they turned back toward their houses.

Rick smiled at her as they walked.

"I understand, it took me a while, too." He said.

* * *

"It's gettin' dark, we'd better find a place to hold up for the night." Michonne said.

The problem was there wasn't anywhere TO stop, there was nothing but wilderness as far as they could see.

"Son of a bitch!" Daryl said angrily as he thumped the steering wheel.

"Hey! What's that up ahead? A county road! Take it, there's bound to be a house down it somewhere and even better because we'll be off the highway." Charlotte said.

Sure enough, she had been right, about three or four miles down the washboard road riddled with holes and washouts, they came upon an old mountain cabin that looked like it had been abandoned before the world went to shit.

They all got out silently careful not to slam their doors and drew they weapons, Charlotte and Daryl took the lead, up the creaky porch to the door, which they were surprised to find unlocked.

Daryl pounded on the door with the handle of his knife and whistled, and they waited, when nothing moved, or came out, they entered with all the precision of a SWAT team and filed out into the house, clearing it room by room.

"Nothin' what about yal'll?" Daryl asked as Glenn and Michonne came down the stairs.

"One in the bedroom, he probably was the owner." Glenn said.

"Good, let's get this place secure and try to get some sleep. We still have some drivin' to do and tomorrow's my turn at the wheel." Michonne said.

* * *

It didn't matter how many times they saw it, the sight of a once bustling, vibrant metropolis reduced to a smoldering, decaying city of the dead never ceased to shock them to some degree.

"It's _their_ world now, we're just livin' in it." Michonne said as they parked the car out of sight, but in a place where they could make a quick getaway of things went to shit (like they always did, eventually).

"Alright, everyone knows their job." Daryl said as they all fanned out into teams of two.

"The map said there should be mall at the center of town, it says there's a Bass Pro, we can restock on guns, and ammo and whatever else isn't taken." Charlotte said as they crept through the city, careful to keep close to the buildings and out of sight.

"How the hell do you know that?" Daryl hissed at her as they waited for a large herd of walkers to amble by.

"I picked up a tourist map, you know, since we aren't from around these parts, I'd like to know what ... _attractions_ there are around here." She said humorously as they skirted by when the coast was clear.

Daryl snorted at her since of humor, as they rounded a corner and a large strip center loomed, dark and foreboding in front of them, like a monster waiting to swallow them up.

"Well … let's get this over with." Charlotte said as they crept up to the front doors.

"Shit! They're automatic and they're locked, I'm gonna have to break the glass to get in." Charlotte cursed.

"Maybe not." Daryl replied as he pulled out a crowbar and wedged it between the doors.

"If you do that, we might not be able to get them closed again." She said, just then, they jumped back, their hands flying reflexively to their side arms as the bodies hit the glass from inside the store, their teeth gnashing hungrily at the glass.

"Shit … there's gotta be hundreds of the sumbitches in there!" Charlotte said as she peered through the glass behind the walker's heads. From what she could see, that the store was mostly untouched, probably because everyone else figured risking it with that many walkers wasn't worth it … but _they_ weren't just everyone else.

"C'mon, Charlotte, this place ain't worth our lives. There's too many." Daryl said as he took her by the arm and began to lead her away.

"Daryl … no … I saw that place, it's fully stocked, as in I don't think it's even been _touched_ like … ever! That means it's safe to say that the guns and ammo are still there, too!" She said as she stopped and pulled from his grasp.

"Yeah, that's cuz no one's dumb enough to try it with all those assholes in there!" Daryl shot back, unable to keep his voice from rising.

"Look … it'll be easy as pie, you open the doors and I'll grab one of those bikes over there and lead as many of them away as I can, then I'll double back behind the buildings using the alley and slip inside." Charlotte said as she sprinted over to there the bike display was, luckily for her, most of the bikes were still in usable condition.

She chose a bright pink mountain bike, pink had always been her favorite color.

"Ready?" she asked as she rolled up to him, he gave her a pained expression, but complied all the same, he knew they were getting low on ammo and guns, and with another hostile group in the area, they had no choice. He stuck the crowbar into the door and it sprung with very little effort, its locking mechanism having rusted away long ago, like everything else in this world.

The walkers poured out and headed straight for Charlotte on the bright pink bike, she put a few of them with her desert eagle and soon the whole herd, thousand's strong was after her, her plan was so lead them a few miles down the street, fire a flare into the woods and then double back to the store before they noticed her.

"Whoo hooo! Come on you sumbitches!" she hollered over her shoulder as she went just fast enough to keep out of their reach until they were good and interested, then she began to pick up speed.

She got to the end of the street and turned the corner, by the grace of god, the coast was clear, so she fired her flare into the woods that had begun to take the city back after almost six years of having no one to stop its encroachment. It was as she had always suspected, that man's supposed dominance over nature had been a mere façade.

She doubled back through the alley behind the buildings as fast as her burning legs would pump the bike. Daryl let out the breath he didn't even realize he was holding when he saw her round the corner, seeming to be okay.

"God damn girl, you scared the _shit_ outta me, get your ass in here!" he said as she pushed her into the store and shut the doors behind them.

"Wow _look_ at this place! Here's your list, I got mine." She said as they went their separate ways in the huge store. Charlotte filled her duffel with everything of use that she could reach, MRE's, freeze dried food, clothes, and hygienic supplies as Daryl met her with his bag so heavy with weapons and ammo that he could barely carry it.

"C'mon, we ain't got but a few hours' worth of daylight left, we'd better be gettin' back." Daryl said as he reached for his walkie.

"Go for Glenn." After a moment, Glenn's garbled voice came over the frequency.

"meet us at the car, we gettin' the hell outta here." Daryl said.

"Wow! With any luck, this will last us into next winter!" Charlotte said as Glenn and Michonne heaved their duffels, also filled to bursting with supplies from their lists.

* * *

"How you doin' Pirate, you okay to keep goin?" Michonne asked Charlotte as she caught her friend rubbing her eye wearily.

"Yeah, we only got a few mile to go, anyway. I am not tired, just my eye, it has to do the work of two, you know and sometimes it gets tired." She said.

A wave of empathy for her friend washed over Michonne, although she would never say it out loud, because she knew Charlotte didn't like to be taken pity on or patronized.

"Oh … SHIT!" Charlotte cursed as she slammed on the brakes.

"Charlotte … wha … oh … hell …!" Daryl, who had been dozing in the passenger seat they could see the smoke even from a mile away, and the sounds of shouting and gunfire could be heard.

Charlotte slammed her foot down on the accelerator.

"We ain't runnin' not this time, this ain't like before … those people don't know, they need out help." she said.

* * *

 _Ahhhh! Yes! I know I am evil LOL … but I hope to have the subsequent chapters up soon. Also how about the premier Sunday night, eh?! I won't spoil it for anyone who has DVR'd it but has not seen it (WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!), but I will say that in my opinion … I think the "bad ass of the episode" award should go to Daryl ~_^_


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

 _Notes: Okay, I will confess, I have not read the comics, so all this is going to be me flying by the seat of my pants, I have read bios of most of the characters, Negan and the others, so I will try to make them as in character as I can. And yes I know Negan's penchant for cursing, but I just can't bring myself to write that many curse words._

* * *

"Oh, shit!" Michonne cursed as they rolled up to Alexandria to find it in smoldering ruin, the front gate had been rammed in, and walkers were already starting to filter inside the walls.

"Charlotte … grab the RV and pull it in front of the gate, we have to stop more from getting in." Glenn said Charlotte nodded and hopped out.

"Pirate!" Charlotte about-faced at Michonne calling her nickname just in time to catch an AR 15, and a couple of magazines Michonne tossed to her as she slid into the driver's seat of the Tucson.

"Let's go kick some ass." Michonne said to no one in particular as she sped off.

Charlotte slung the rifle strap over her shoulder and took off towards where the RV was parked as fast as her legs would carry her; she threw open the door and dug into the console for the keys.

"Yes!" she said as she felt her fingers close around the cold metal, she jammed the key into the ignition and shifted into drive and moved the motorhome in front of the ruined gate, effectively blocking it.

She suddenly felt cold steel press against the back of her head.

"Move, and you die, girlie girl." A man's voice said.

Slowly, and as quietly as she could, Charlotte unclipped her desert eagle's holster and slid the pistol out, praying the darkness of the RV hid her actions.

"Stand up and turn around, nice and slow." Charlotte did as she was told, and the man cursed and recoiled at the sight of her ruined face, Charlotte gave him a cutesy grin as she shot him straight between the eyes without a moment's hesitation.

"Didn't your momma ever teach you that it's not polite to stare?" She said to the man's corpse as she stepped over him.

Outside it was chaos, there were walkers, fires burning, gunfire exchange, and shouting everywhere, and she could head exchanges of gunfire all over the Alexandria.

Charlotte kept flush against the buildings, picking off walkers, and intruders as she saw them, making her way towards the center of town, towards Deanna's house. She rounded the corner and almost ran smack into Rick and Carl.

"What the hell _happened_ here?!" Charlotte asked, slightly breathless from excursion and adrenaline.

"That group … the same one as before … they waited until you four left and then they attacked!" Rick said, his voice hoarse and breathless.

"They have Deanna, Denise, and Olivia held up in the armory, we have to help them, dad." Carl said.

And now that reinforcements have arrived, we can." Rick said as he put a hand on Charlotte's shoulder.

"Hell, yeah! Let's do it!" Charlotte said as she high fived Carl.

Daryl, Michonne, Glenn and a few others from their group, and the town walked down Alexandria's main street, using walkers they had put down as cover, picking off members of the marauding group as they advanced toward the armory.

Daryl growled in pain as he felt a bullet from one of the enemies guns graze his left shoulder.

"Hey … you good?" Michonne asked him.

"I'll live … just keep moving … we're almost there." Daryl ground out through gritted teeth.

Daryl and his group met up with Rick, Carl, Charlotte and a few others they had also picked up along the way.

"How do you want to play this, law man?" Charlotte asked as they took cover under the porch.

Rick ran a hand over his face, he hated to admit it, but he didn't know … being a former police officer, he knew how dangerous a storming a home could be, especially when he didn't have visuals on where everyone was. Then … he got an idea.

"Carl, do you still have any flash bangs left?" he asked.

"Yeah, a couple." Carl replied.

"Good, here's what we're going to do …" Rick said as he pulled everyone into a huddle.

* * *

"I hope ya'll realize that nothing of this is personal, it's just … you have something we want, so we're gonna take it." Negan said as he strolled to and fro in front of a tied up Deanna, Olivia and Denise.

"Maybe it's not personal to _you_." Denise said.

Negan was in her face in a second, their noses were almost touching.

"Do you wanna know something, missy? You know the only … the _only_ reason why you three are still alive, is because _you're_ a doctor, and we need hostages, if it wasn't for those two things, you'd have been dead the moment we stormed in here. So if I was you, I'd shut my pretty little mouth." He said as he cupped her chin roughly in his huge hand.

Suddenly, a huge explosion shook the entire building, Negan pointed Lucille at two of his nearest henchmen.

"Go check it out!"

Rick, Carl, and Charlotte hid around the corner, their back flush against the wall, hidden by the darkness, their hearts pounding in their ears as the heavy footsteps of Negan's men grew closer. They held their breath as the men walked right past them, Charlotte and Carl, who had silencers on their pistols made quick work of the two men with shots straight to the back of the head.

"Let's move, before these assholes'r missed." Daryl whispered as he waved them forward.

"I believe the time for talking is behind us." Negan said as he raised his bat.

He froze as he felt the muzzle of a gun press into the back of his skull.

"Do it, and you're dead." A gruff female voice said.

Negan put his hands over his head as his minions were subdued and promptly hog tied by Daryl.

Negan turned around and a huge grin spread across his face.

"Well, well! If it isn't the little one-eyed lady!" He said.

Charlotte's eye narrowed, and Negan's grin widened, he knew he had piqued her interest as to how he knew of her.

"Oh, since you're curious, I _suppose_ I'll tell you, we've been watching you for a while, your comings and goings, and all that." Negan said casually as he drew his own sidearm with surprising quickness and pointed it back at Charlotte.

"I wonder who has a quicker trigger finger, you, or me?" he said as he cocked the hammer back on his revolver.

Negan then looked to Daryl, Carl, Michonne and Rick. "Drop em' or she's dead."

They hesitated, and he shoved the muzzle of his gun into the side of her head.

"Do it, or her pretty little brains are gonna be splattered all over, and I _know_ no one wants to see that, especially _you_." Negan said as he looked pointedly at Daryl, who, along with the others slowly dropped their weapons to the floor.

"Yes, yes, I have seen how … _close_ the two of you are, I bet it'd really destroy you if I killed her right here, right now, right in front of you, wouldn't it?" Negan said

"Do it, and I'll kill you, you worthless prick." Daryl seethed, shaking with the anger he was barely controlling. Rick shot him a look of warning and slowly motioned for him to keep calm.

"Yes, I think that make you live replaying it in your mind forever, wondering if there was something you could've done differently that would have saved her, that would be truly poetic, wouldn't it?" He said, still grinning.

"NO!" Carl yelled as he leapt forward and pushed Charlotte out of the way just as she and Negan discharged their weapons at the same time, Negan grunted as the bullet from her desert eagle hit him square in the shoulder.

"Something to remember me by, you killed some of my men, now I took something from you, I guess you could say it was an 'eye for an eye'." He said, laughing heartily as he ducked out of the armory.

"Carl?! Oh shit! Are you okay?!" Charlotte said as she helped Carl up.

"My face … hurts …" Carl said as he collapsed into a sitting position.

"Oh … god!" Charlotte said her hand flew to her mouth, where Carl's right eye had once been, was now just a gaping, bloody hole. Looking at it, she could see the top corner of his eye socket exposed.

"We have to get him to the infirmary! I can treat him there!" Denise said as Rick hoisted his son into his arms and the others retrieved their weapons and covered them.

Daryl paused as he passed the two men they had tied up.

"If you want us to beg, you can go fuck yourself." One of them said.

"Don' worry, I don't." Daryl said as he shot both of them dead.

* * *

"Set him down here." Denise said as she pointed to the nearest bed.

"Charlotte, I am going to need your help, I need astringent, sutures, and forceps, I think the bullet is lodged in his eye socket somewhere. Rick, Michonne and Daryl, you're going to need to hold him still." Denise said as she got to work.

Sure enough, as soon as she put the forceps into the wound, Carl awoke and started to struggle.

"Hold him still!" Denise bellowed as she wiped her sweaty brow on her sleeve of her shirt and felt around in the wound for the bullet.

"Just a little more, I almost have it!" She said as she felt the forceps close around the hard steel of the bullet.

"There!" she said as it came out.

Charlotte handed Denise the saline solution and she washed out and dressed, and bandaged the wound as Charlotte covered him with a blanket.

"Wait! What happened?! Is he …" Rick trailed off as emotion overwhelmed him and he broke down in tears.

"He just passed out from the pain, when he comes to, if he is in too much pain, I can give him something for it, unfortunately, I don't have any IV pain medication anymore." Denise said as she turned to Daryl.

"Now, let's take a look at the shoulder." She said.

"Ain't nothin' to worry about." Daryl said.

"Bullshit, Daryl, let her look at you!" Charlotte said as she pushed blocked his exit.

Daryl blew out a harsh, annoyed sigh as he turned and sat on the nearest gurney.

"Well, you're lucky, this won't even need stitches." Denise said as she cleaned, dressed and bandaged it.

" _See_ I told ya I could've treated this myself." Daryl grumbled to Charlotte.

"Better safe than sorry." Charlotte shrugged as she grinned at him.

* * *

"Hey there, law man, I am surprised to see you up here. I'd have thought you'd be with Carl. " Charlotte said as crested the stairs to the lookout tower.

Rick didn't respond, but they shared a long look of understanding between them, he had come up here for the same reason, because there was a new, frightening group in town, and honestly, they were scared.

"How am I supposed to send people out on runs, out hunting when there is someone like that so close? How am I supposed to do that in good conscious?" Rick said, his voice full of despair.

"We'll go because we have to, we know this world, we know it ain't all unicorns and rainbows anymore." Charlotte replied.

"Now, what do you say I take first watch, and you go down and be with your boy, I have a walkie I'll holler if something's up."

Rick studied her for a moment. "You don't mind?"

Charlotte pointed to the stairs. "Get the hell out of here, that's an order, officer." She said as she smiled at him.

Rick paused for a moment before striding over to her and enveloping her in a fatherly hug; Charlotte was too surprised by this to even hug back.

"You really are one of the good ones." He said.

"Yeah … well … so are you, law man, just don't go forgettin' it." she said awkwardly as he released her and descended down the stairs.

* * *

"Hey, there kid, how ya holdin' up?" Charlotte asked the next morning as she walked into the infirmary to find Carl sitting up in bed, eating a cup of chocolate pudding.

"Okay, I guess." Carl said with a shrug.

"Come on, Carl, I've been through this before, remember? You just lost an important part of your body, you aren't okay." She said as she sat on the edge of the bed.

Carl shrugged again. "If I hadn't done what I did, he would've killed you." He said, he worded it as a statement, but eyed her as though he had just asked her a question and expected an answer.

Charlotte blew out a breath. "Yes. He would have probably killed me." She said truthfully.

Carl's expression hardened. "Then I'm glad I did what I did, even though this happened to me, I'm not _dead_ , I'm still here … and so are you." He said as he looked her dead straight in her eye, his gaze not wavering.

Charlotte shook her head as she chuckled in spite of herself. "You're one bad ass kid, you know that?"

Carl straightened in bed as a look of pride crossed his young face. "Damn straight!" he exclaimed.

Charlotte laughed as she stood. "If you need any advice from someone who's been through the same thing, you know where to find me." She said as she walked to the door.

"Hey, Charlotte?" Carl called to her.

"I … I don't want you to blame yourself for what happened, I don't want you to feel bad. We're friends, that's what friends do for each other." He told her.

The damn kid was definitely wise beyond his years.

"Anything for a fellow pirate." She said with a wink as she left him alone to rest up.

* * *

"Rick." Daryl greeted the former sheriff gruffly as he looked out into the dark forest from one of the lookout platforms.

Rick's eyes remained on the shadowy woods as he spoke. "Aaron tells me there's another community like this one about twenty miles from here called the Hilltop Colony. He tells me this guy, Negan has them under his thumb. If we can somehow talk to them without him knowing, and get them to band together with us, we might have a chance at fighting him."

"An' if they won't?" Daryl replied.

Rick sighed. "I don't know, but one thing's for damn sure, we ain't rolling over to this asshole." He said.

* * *

 _Notes: I actually don't like this chapter much, I did my best, revised it several times and it got BETTER, but it was just … really hard to write, ugh. :/_


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 12**

 _Notes: Sorry for the long, long delay in updating. I really did not intend for it to be this long between updates, but I got busy IRL. Henceforth, I can't promise when I will have any subsequent chapters up, all I can promise is that I will TRY to have them up in a timely manner. Thank you to all who followed, faved, and reviewed this story, and those of you who have been with me from the beginning THANK YOU! 3_

* * *

"Shit!" Carl cursed as his shot went wide; missing the line of cans he had set up on a dilapidated fence a ways outside the walls of Alexandria. Seeing how easy Charlotte had seemed to overcome losing her dominant eye lulled him into believing the illusion that he too, would have no issues.

Oh … how _wrong_ he'd been.

He had been out here since first light, drenched in sweat, the dense humidity of the region's temperate climate pressed in on him as though it were an entity.

"Hey!" Carl whirled around at the sound of another human voice, his handgun drawn only to come face to face with Charlotte.

"Well, it's nice to see your injury hasn't affected your ability to draw." She said with a wry smile.

"How did you find me?" He asked, slightly annoyed as he slid his sidearm back into its holster but didn't clip it in.

"I had last watch last night, remember? I saw you sneak out over the wall this morning. _Without_ telling anyone, you know that's against the rules." She said, her tone chastising as she crossed her arms in front of her.

"I didn't want anyone knowing what I was coming out here to do." He said, refusing to meet her intense one-eyed gaze.

Charlotte's expression softened, he was ashamed, and he felt inadequate, and she knew the feeling all too well.

"Tell ya what, I'll help you, and what we do out here stays between us … BUT … you HAVE to tell me when you're coming out here. You just can't go gallivanting off into the woods by yourself without anyone knowing where you've gone off too. Deal?" She said.

Carl grinned. "Deal." he said as they shook on it.

* * *

"The fuck you been?! I've been waitin' here a damn hour!" Daryl grumbled at Charlotte as she trotted up to him.

"Sorry … had something I had to take care of … I'll tell you about it later." She said in a hushed voice, her eye darting to Rick as he jogged up to them, Daryl gave her a heated look but ceased his line of questioning.

"Everyone ready?" He asked.

"Ready whenever you are, law man." Charlotte replied.

"Well … let's quit standin' around here, talkin' and get this show on the road!" Daryl said as he pushed passed both of them and headed toward the car. Rick looked at Charlotte, as if he expected her to have insight into the reason for Daryl's sour mood this morning; but Charlotte just flashed him a crooked grin and rolled her eye. Rick chuckled as they turned and followed Daryl to their vehicle, Charlotte really _was_ the perfect person for Daryl; she just … _got_ him in ways no one else could, not even his closest friends.

"HEY! Ya'll comin, or what?!" Daryl barked at them. Rick and Charlotte hid their grins as they trotted to catch up.

"So, where are we going?" Charlotte asked as Rick folded his long, lean frame into the driver's seat of the small sedan.

"There's a place about fifteen miles from here, Aaron said he came across it when he was out scouting a while back, he said it used to be a military outpost, but it's overrun so no one's been able to get close to it." He said as Daryl plopped down hard into the passenger seat, Charlotte climbed into the back and took the opportunity to stretch out, resting her hands behind her head and propping her feet against the back door window.

"Cool, wake me up when we get there." She said with a casual air to her voice as she pulled her wide brimmed hat down over her eye and laid her rifle down next to her on the floorboards of the car.

Rick glanced at Daryl and he swore he saw the ghost of a grin twitch at the corners of his mouth and he felt the veil of sourness that had been emanating from him lift ever so slightly. That tough little woman really was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

Charlotte exhaled a sigh as she listened to the rumbling of the car's tires on the decaying road, the gentle vibration slowly lulled her to sleep as it always had when she took road trips and wasn't the driver. In fact, being an insomniac, some of her most restful sleep sessions were had in the backs of cars on long trips, ever since she was a kid. Thinking about her old life before all this sent a sharp bolt of nostalgic pain through her soul as she allowed her mind to drift back to family vacations to the coast, and the one summer they hiked the Appalachian Trail together.

Daryl laid back against his seat and stole a glance at Charlotte's sleeping form and his heart melted, he couldn't help it; she looked so cute, he would give anything just to be able to crawl back there with her and cocoon her body with his.

The real reason for his surliness was that they had hardly even _seen_ one another in the last few weeks, both of them had been so busy. On top of his hunting duties, Deanna had Daryl going out on scouting runs with Aaron and Spencer, he couldn't really blame her for wanting him to go along, neither man knew jack shit about surviving in this world.

Consequently, because of what had happened with Negan and his saviors, Rick had Charlotte, Maggie, and Michonne pulling night watch duty because they were three of the most responsible members of the group, and from the look on Glenn's face every time it was time for Maggie's shifts, he didn't like it any more than Daryl did.

Charlotte squirmed awake from her restless slumber, she lifted her hat off her eye to find Daryl pinning her with that intense stare of his. Charlotte glanced at Rick, but his gaze was fixed on the road ahead, and his mind seemed far away, therefore he was oblivious to their silent communication.

She could see the desire swimming, darkening his normally bright blue eyes, she smiled coyly at him and slowly crossed one leg over the other, his nostrils flared and his eyes darkened even further as he watched her every move.

"We're here." Rick said, interrupting their silent flirting session.

Suddenly, all minds were on the task at hand as they slowly stepped out of the car, careful not to slam their doors.

"Place's locked up tight, looks like it has been since the beginning, judging by the rust on this lock and chain." Charlotte said as she leaned close and inspected it. "A few good blows with a rock outta do it, but it's your call, law man." She said as she picked up a large rock and waited for what he wanted to do next.

"We don't have any other choice, go ahead and break it." Rick said with a steely look in his eyes.

Charlotte has been right, it took just two blows with the rock and the lock practically crumbled off the chain, Rick and Daryl both cringed as the sound echoed into the quiet forest surrounding the former military outpost.

"Come on, before anything … or any _one_ shows up." Rick said, sliding behind the wheel of the car as Charlotte pushed open one of the gates just wide enough for the car to squeeze through, cringing again at the horrible groaning sound they made, almost like they, themselves were zombies of a forgotten world.

"Son of a bitch!" Daryl cursed as walkers started to break the tree line surrounding the base, growling hungrily as they caught sight of them. Charlotte hurriedly wrapped the decaying chain around the gate and ran for the car, hoping it would hold, and the walkers would settle down once they got out of sight.

They pulled around back, the place looked deserted, no humans, no walkers, nothing; but as they knew all too well, that didn't mean it _was_ deserted. They crept up to the first set of doors they found and tried to peer inside, but it was too dark to see.

"Hey! Assholes, fresh meat, come 'n get it!" Charlotte said in a sadistically sweet tone as she pounded the door with the butt of her machete, then they waited to hear the telltale sounds of bodies impacting the door, but there were none. They tried the door and it was locked, but it was so rusted that it gave way just under the pressure of being turned.

They slowly opened it and waited for their eyes to adjust to the darkness of the building, even though outside it was a bright and sunny early summer day, with no windows, the building was as dark as a tomb.

"This place is too big to search as a group, we're going to have to split up, I'll go this way, you two go the other way, if you get in a bind, holler!" Rick called to their retreating forms.

Daryl and Charlotte prowled the dark, musty hallway, trying every door and finding it locked. These locks were protected from the worst of West Virginia's elements, and still held strong. They kept trying doors until came to one marked _'armory'._

"Can ya see anything?" Daryl growled as he watched their backs. Charlotte wiped the film of dust off the small square window and strained to peer inside. From what she could see, the armory was still fairly well stocked. Then, she jumped back, her machete reflexively raised as the impact of walker bodies hit the door.

"Shit!" She cursed as she kicked the door in frustration.

"That's why ain't seen any walkers, they're all locked in these rooms." Daryl said as he nodded to the other doors.

"Well, we're gonna have to get in there somehow, there's enough weapons and ammo in there to supply a small army … just what we need." Charlotte said.

"Fuck that, it'd be suicide!" Daryl protested.

" _Not_ if we do it right." She said as she jabbed her thumb upwards.

"We need to get into that air conditioning system, it has to lead into that room, once we know the way, one of us will drop back down here and open the door, once all … or most of them are out, we'll close the door on em', take care of any stragglers, and then go out the way we got in, if need be." Charlotte explained.

Daryl's arms suddenly shot out like angry snakes and pulled her against him.

"You're smarts are one helluva turn on, ya know that?" he growled into her ear as he plundered her neck.

"I thought you didn't like smart women?" She quipped with a raised eyebrow as he drew back to look into her eye.

"I lied." He growled as he kissed her.

"Daryl, no! we can't, not here! Are you crazy?!" She said as his hands found the buttons of her jeans and began undoing them.

"Then _when_?! Cause I ain't seen hide nor hair of you in three weeks and it don't look like it's gonna change!"

Charlotte opened her mouth to reply but couldn't think of anything to say, she knew he was right, they hadn't seen or touched each other in weeks, and the sexual tension between them was so thick that it could be cut with a knife.

She sighed in defeat, she had to face it, the era of only having sex in appropriate (and PRIVATE) places, was dead. And the new reality was that regardless of how much she didn't want either to happen, one of both of them might die tomorrow, and she sure as hell didn't want to die horny.

"Come on." She said as she grabbed him by the hand and pulled him around the corner into a dark, narrow hallway. They didn't need any foreplay, as long as it had been; just touching each other was foreplay enough.

"Now, let's get those guns and shit." She said with a wink as they pulled their pants back on, Daryl followed her with a huge shit eating grin plastered across his face.

* * *

"Holy shit! Just how much stuff was _in_ there?" Rick asked as they handed him the duffel bags stuffed almost to bursting with guns, ammo, and grenades.

"A hell of a lot more than we could ever carry in one trip, but this'll be enough for us to defend ourselves with if they ever try and bother us again." Charlotte said.

"Fuck that, let's take one of _those_!" Daryl said, pointing to the fleet of armored military vehicles that just were sitting idly by, fully loaded.

"Daryl … there's no guarantee they'll even start …" Rick started.

"Well, we'll never know til we try, will we?" Charlotte said as she strode over the nearest hummer with an M 60 machine gun mounted on the top and popped the hood.

It was as if the universe decided to smile down on them, because the battery wasn't the least bit corroded, even after sitting out in the elements for so long.

"It just needs some fuel, we can siphon some from these other trucks." Charlotte said as she grabbed a hose and a gas can.

The other vehicles didn't have as much as they had hoped, but it should be enough for them to at least make it home.

"Charlotte and I'll drive this, you can follow in the car." Daryl said, Rick nodded in agreement as they all headed out.

* * *

"Damn!" Michonne said as Rick, Daryl and Charlotte rolled in shortly before dark with the armored hummer loaded with weapons.

"Hell yeah! With this, we're gonna have em' on the RUN!" Abraham said as he clapped Glenn heartily on the back, almost pitching the small Asian man onto his face.

A dark look suddenly crossed Rick's face. "Spread the word, we're going to have a meeting at Deanna's house tonight after dinner." He said and with that he strode off towards his house.

* * *

I am glad you all were able to make it." Rick said as he walked in to find everyone crammed into Deanna's sitting room.

There was a reason that Daryl, Charlotte and I made that trip to get more weapons, the Saviors, they know where we are … and they _will_ come again for us. I called this meeting because I want to pitch the idea of a preemptive strike. Now, Daryl, Aaron and Spencer have been out, casing out the Savior's hideout, and Aaron has drawn out a map of the place and how he believes it is set up, based on their comings and goings." Rick said as he called Aaron up.

Aaron shyly approached Rick and handed him a large roll of paper, Rick unfolded it and tacked it up against the wall.

"According to their estimates, there is only one way in and one way out, we'll leave tomorrow night and hit them just before dawn, the guards will be tired, and everyone will be sleeping." Rick said.

"And how can we be sure they will be sleeping?" Rosita asked.

"We're going to send two scouts ahead first to watch the place, that way, if it looks like it won't work, then we leave and they will never know we were there." Rick replied, Rosita seemed satisfied with the answer and sat back against the couch.

"This _will_ be very dangerous, probably one of the most dangerous things we have ever done and _no one_ has to go if they don't want to; now, let me see a show of hands of who's in." Rick said, and pride and admiration swelled through him as almost everyone raised their hand except Denise, who, now being the only doctor, opted to keep out of harm's way.

"Great, those who are going meet back at my house tomorrow after dinner and we'll figure out what everyone's going to be doing." Rick said as he adjourned the meeting.

"Charlotte, I don' want you goin'." Daryl said once they had returned home, knowing that his request would be for naught, but he had to try anyway, just the thought of her on this mission made him sick to his stomach.

"If you're going, I'm going, I am _not_ letting you do this without me … not this one." She said as she said as she rested her hands on her hips in that infuriatingly adorable way she did when her mind was made up.

"Ahhh … Charlotte … what am I gonna do with you? You're gonna be the death of me … ya know that?" He said as he ran his hands through his hair.

"Well, I have a _few_ ideas on what you can do with me." She said suggestively as she drew close to him and snaked her arms around his neck.

A growl rumbled deep in his throat as he swept her right off her feet and carried her to the bedroom.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Everyone gathered by the vehicles, the group was Rick, Michonne, Tara, Rosita, Glenn, Maggie, Abraham, Spencer, and a few others from Alexandria who knew their way around weapons; twenty people in total.

"Now, when we get there, Maggie, and Charlotte, I want you two to scout ahead. You'll have radios, you sit on that place and scope it out, and we'll all wait back here for word. If you don't think it's safe, say the word and we'll leave, they'll never know we were here." Maggie and  
Charlotte nodded, their faces mirrored the same determined expression.

"I hate that you're doing this." Glenn said as he embraced Maggie.

"Well, what else am I supposed to do? You won't let me go in with you, and I have to do _something_ , I just can't sit home like a lump on a log … as daddy used to say." She said as she gave him one final kiss before releasing her to join Charlotte, who was waiting at the tree line.

"Charlotte!" Daryl called as she was about to disappear into the forest.

Charlotte barely had time to turn around as Daryl strode up to her and pulled her into a spontaneous, passionate kiss right there in front of everyone.

Charlotte was so shocked at his move that she didn't respond to his kiss right away, their relationship had never been an outwardly affectionate one, so this was the last thing she expected from him.

Apparently everyone else was as shocked as she was, because they all cleared their throats awkwardly and looked anywhere but at them. Even Maggie shifted uncomfortably on her feet and averted her eyes.

"You take care of yourself, ya hear?" He growled into her ear as he released her and watched her and Maggie disappear into the dense forest.

Rick and the group had gotten as close as they dared with the vehicles, but thankfully, they are able to get close enough so that they didn't have to hike too far through the dark woods.

"Here. Let's set up here." Maggie said as she climbed a small hill overlooking the compound. Aaron was right, the place was locked up tight, even with binoculars, it was hard to see what was going on inside.

"Anything?" Rick's voice crackled over the radio.

"Not sure, but I can't see anything going on, the place looks locked up tighter than a drum, it's your call, law man." Charlotte replied.

"Watch our backs from there, if you see anything fishy, let us know, we're moving in." Rick said as the radio fell silent.

Charlotte's heart pounded in her ears as she scoured the compound through her binoculars, watching for anything.

"I'm pregnant." Maggie said abruptly into the silence.

Charlotte almost dropped her binoculars in shock.

"You're _what_?!" She said as she pinned Maggie with that intense one-eyed stare of hers.

"Pregnant." Maggie said with a sad smile. "I track my cycles, you know? It's just something I've always done, and when I was a week late, I picked up a pregnancy test and sure enough, positive."

Does Glenn know?" Charlotte asked in a hushed, excited voice.

Maggie shook her head. "I only just found out about a week or so ago, I've been trying to think of a way to tell him." She said as tears welled up in her eyes.

"I am sure he'll be thrilled, Glenn's a good man, and he really loves you." Charlotte replied as she turned back to stare through her binoculars.

"Have you ever thought about … if it happened to you? What Daryl would do?" Maggie asked.

"Oh, sure it crossed my mind, but I don't have to worry about that, I got a tubal three years before all this shit happened, my career was on the upswing, and the last thing I wanted was a pregnancy ruining everything … I know how that must sound, but when you are a model, your body is essentially your way of making money. Kind of ironic right? Because that's all fucked now." Charlotte said as she gestured to her ruined eye.

"I think you would've made a great mother, you're great with kids." Maggie said with a smile.

"Kids yes, babies, no." Charlotte said with a laugh as she looked through her binoculars.

"Here we go." She said as she watched their group gather at the tree line.

"Do you think you can hit them from here? I know I can't." Charlotte whispered to Maggie.

"No time like the present to find out." Maggie replied a she got into positon and aimed through the scope, if she made it, this would be the furthest shot she had made to date.

"What if she can't make the damn shot?" Daryl hissed.

"She'll make it." Glenn replied from behind them as they laid in wait.

No sooner had he spoken, the two guards out in front crumpled to the ground where they stood, dead before they even hit the ground.

"Two headshots, not too shabby!" Daryl said as they moved forward with all the tactical precision of a seasoned SWAT team. Rick and Daryl entered first and gave the okay for the others to file in behind them; they infiltrated the compound like angry ants.

They went door to door, killing everyone they found as they slept, the poor bastards never knew what hit them.

The group, led by Rick and Daryl, found the armory and loaded up as much of the Savior's stash of weapons as they could, including three AK 47's with extra magazines, and a belt of grenades.

They met heavy gunfire from what was left of the Saviors greeted them as they exited the armory … Daryl pulled a pin out of one of the grenades and hurled it at the small group of Saviors.

Rick and the others ducked behind the corner as shrapnel and bits of various body parts went flying past them down the hallway, once the blast cleared they pushed past, choosing not to look at the resulting carnage as they made their way to the exit.

* * *

"Here they come!" Charlotte said, relief washing over her as she watched Daryl slip through first, followed by Rick, Glenn and the others.

"Glenn's okay!" She said..

"Thank god!" Maggie replied, tears welling up in her eyes.

Just then, they heard a rustling in the surrounding forest.

"Maggie get back!" Charlotte said as she pushed Maggie out of the way and aimed her desert eagle just as a man burst out of the tree line. They both discharged their weapons at the same, time; but only this time, Charlotte's aim was true and the man crumpled where he stood, as the bullet from her desert eagle exploded out of the back of his skull.

"One more move, Missy, and You're dead." A rough female voice said as Charlotte felt the cold steel of a gun press into the back of her head.

Cursing inwardly, Charlotte dropped her gun and raised her hands into the air as she saw Maggie doing the same, a gun to her head also.

"Now turn around, both of you." A second woman's voice said, both Maggie and Charlotte did as they were told, as always, the woman with the gun to Charlotte's head reacted to the sight of her ruined face, the Frankenstein like nature of her of her scars were rudely accented by the light from the full moon.

"Holy shit! Jesus Christ! What the hell happened to you?" the woman who held a gun to her head exclaimed, she had fiery red hair and a coral and cream complexion.

"The same thing that's gonna happen to you if you don't get that fucking gun out of my face." Charlotte replied as she held the woman's hard expression without wavering.

The woman chuckled, then without warning, she struck Charlotte across hard across the face with the butt of her pistol. Charlotte stumbled back, spitting up blood.

"Why you little …!" Charlotte said as she rounded on the woman.

"Charlotte, don't!" Maggie pleaded, tears in her eyes.

"You'd better listen to your little friend, missy, unless you want your pretty little brains splattered all over this forest." A second woman said as she pointed her gun at the other side of Charlotte's head as the redhead picked up her radio.

"Hey you, asshole, the one with the cold pipe." She watched through her binoculars as Rick froze, his 357 aimed at a man who called himself 'Primo'. He grabbed the man's radio.

"All your people are dead, unless you want to be too, I'd come out of wherever hole you're hiding in." Rick said.

The redhead pointed her gun at Charlotte and Maggie. "What are your names?"

"I'm Maggie, she's Charlotte." Maggie said, her voice stony.

"Well … my name is Paula, and me and my comrades have a Charlotte, and a Maggie here … I assume that _would_ be something you'd want to talk about." Her voice crackled over the radio on Rick's end.

Glenn and Daryl's expressions mirrored each other in a look of panic and horror as they both looked at Rick, who ground his teeth as he squeezed the radio so tightly that his hand started to ache.

PAGE BREAK

Suddenly, sacks were forced over their heads and they were forced to walk, Charlotte didn't know for how long, until their heard were uncovered and they found themselves in a dank, damp room. Charlotte tried to move her hands and her feet and discovered they had been hogtied.

Suddenly, the radio at the Paula's hip crackled.

"We have your man, the one who calls himself Primo, how about an even trade, your man for ours." Rick's draw was barely audible over the static.

"Two for the price of one doesn't seem like a fair deal to me." Paula said smugly.

"That's the choice you got, or else we kill the rest of you right now, starting with your man, here." Rick said, his voice cold and emotionless.

"We'll get back to you." Paula said as she cut communication.

"He'll do it, you know." Charlotte said casually."

Paula snorted. "What, kill us?" She sneered.

"Yeah." Charlotte replied in the same smug tone, mocking her as she knelt in front of her.

" _You_ want to kill me, I can tell, too bad, because there is no way out of this, not unless I say there is."

Charlotte smirked as she held Paula's gaze. _'We'll see about that, bitch.'_ She thought.

Suddenly all of them heard some sort of commotion outside.

"What the hell?" The older woman with who's name they had learned was Molly Paula said as Paula drew her weapon.

"Let's move." She said as they exited and in their haste, Charlotte noticed they forgot to lock the door.

Charlotte looked to Maggie and a unspoken line of communication passed between them, Maggie scooted over to Charlotte and charlotte placed her hands and feet where she could reach the knot with her teeth, once Charlotte was free she untied Maggie and they crept to the door.

"Shit, they took our weapons though." Maggie said in a hushed voice.

"I bet they took them to the armory, we'll just have to find it, and get them back, I ain't going anywhere without my eagles." Charlotte said, her hands patting her empty holsters as they eased the door open and crept down the hall.

They could hear the familiar growls of walkers and the sound of gunfire coming from somewhere in the compound, they took the advantage of what was left of the Saviors being occupied and they searched the compound for the armory, after what seemed like a fortnight, they found it.

"Ah!" Charlotte exclaimed as she grabbed her gleaming, golden, and engraved custom desert eagles and slid them into their holsters after checking their clips.

"It's nice to have ya back, girls." She said as she patted them.

"Ready?" Maggie said as she handed her an AR 15 and an extra magazine.

"I was BORN ready!" She said as they exited the armory to come face to face with Paula and her two cohorts.

"Son of a BITCH!" Paula said as she punched Charlotte with all her might and shoved her against the wall, as her companion did the same to Maggie. A scuffle ensued and suddenly, Paula's eyes went blank and her jaw went slack as she stumbled back, Charlotte's knife sticking out of her chest.

Charlotte bent in close as she pulled the knife out.

"What did I tell ya?" She said as she tapped the bloody blade against the right side of her head as Paula collapsed, dead.

"You okay?" She asked a breathless Maggie as they looked down at the two dead women, Maggie stepped forward with her knife ready, but Charlotte stopped her.

"Fuck that, let the bitches turn, let's get out of here." She said as she readied their weapons and filed down the hall with military precision.

They made their way to a door at the end of the hall, and threw it open and game face to face with Rick and the rest of their group.

"Glenn!" Maggie said, finally breaking down as they ran to each other.

"Aw shit, Charlotte, look what they did to ya … you okay?" Daryl said as he tilted her face to look at the large swelling and cut on the side of her face where Paula had hit her with her gun, and the, and the black eye on her opposite side where she had punched her.

"I'll live, come on, let's just get the fuck out of here." She said.

* * *

"You're lucky, Charlotte, it looks like it's only a hairline fracture." Denise said as she checked her over.

"Only?" Charlotte quipped humorously.

"Considering you should have shattered it … especially since that side of your face is already weakened by your previous injury, yes, I consider you VERY lucky." Denise replied.

"What about Maggie?" Charlotte asked in ernest.

"Other than some minor scrapes and bruises, she's fine." Denise reassured her as she finished cleaning her wounds and rolled back in her chair, signaling she was finished.

"And the baby?" Charlotte asked in a hushed voice, Denise's expression fell.

"Without an ultrasound it's hard to tell, but everything to me seems like no harm was done. Glenn is with her now." She said as she handed Charlotte a bottle of pills.

"Antibiotics … take one every twelve hours with food of some sort, unless you want to puke them back up, that is." Denise said in dry humor.

"Thanks, I'll try to remember that." Charlotte said with a laugh as she exited the infirmary.

Daryl was waiting outside for her.

"Everything check out okay?" He asked, his eyes swimming in concern.

"Yeah, just gotta take these every twelve hours til they're gone with food." She said as he put his arm around her shoulders and they walked home.

"I was scared shitless, Charlotte, I thought they were gonna kill you … and Maggie."

Charlotte snuggled closer to him.

"So did I."

* * *

"They WHAT?!" Negan roared, furious at one of his saviors as he told him what had become of the east compound, the smaller man cowered in fear.

"Just … just what I said, they took down the whole east division compound … killed every fucking body and took almost all the weapons, and they left Paula and Molly to turn.

A morbid smile crossed Negan's weathered face as he stroked Lucille's handle.

"Damn, so they are a bunch of bad ass sumbitches after all. Well, I think another … _discussion_ might be in order with Alexandria; I think they need to be reminded just who the ramrod is around here." Negan said as he rose from his seat at the table.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Charlotte awoke the next morning and a groan escaped her lips; the right side of her face where Paula had struck her with the gun throbbed and it felt like it was the size of a basketball, and she could feel the beginnings of a dull headache starting behind her eye. She was sure that had she had an eye on that side, that it would have been swollen shut.

She was no wuss, and no stranger to pain, but fuck, this hurt, the last time she could remember hurting this bad was when she had her eye gouged out. Her stomach suddenly rolled with nausea and she hurried to the bathroom, hoping she could make it.

Daryl was waiting for her when she emerged about twenty minutes later.

"It's … the antibiotics, I've never been able to tolerate antibiotics very well." She said, slightly breathless as she made her way back to bed, suddenly feeling very tired. Daryl moved in front to stop her and look her over.

"I know, I look like hell." She said, looking anywhere but into his eyes.

"Naw, it's more than that. I think you're gettin' a fever." He said as he felt her head, and his suspicions were confirmed, she wasn't burning up, but her forehead was warmer than she should be.

"You … get back in bed." He said as he ushered her to the bed, and his worry deepened when she didn't even protest, she let out a ragged sigh and collapsed against the pillow as he covered her up.

"T-thanks." She said, she was shivering uncontrollably now, Daryl didn't know if it was from the fever, the pain from her injury, or maybe a combination of both.

"Go … do what you gotta do today, Daryl, I'll be fine, it ain't my first time being sick … or hurt." She said as he lay down in bed beside her.

"Ain't got nothin' to do today, anyway, Rick's all paranoid, doesn't want anyone goin' out for the next few days. He think's Negan and the Saviors are plannin' somethin'." Daryl said as he carefully pulled her close.

Charlotte didn't reply as she snuggled closer against him, but inside she was relieved he didn't have anything to do today; that he could just stay with her. She _needed_ him, for the first time in her life since she could remember, she actually _depended_ emotionally on another person outside her immediate family.

Daryl rested his head on top of hers, he knew her well enough now to know what she was thinking, he knew she hadn't wanted him to go, that she had just put on a front so he wouldn't have felt guilty if he had had somewhere to be today.

Her selflessness, her willingness to put others before herself, it was one of the things he loved most about her.

"It's okay, Pirate girl, I ain't goin' nowhere today, I know you don't want me to." He said.

A warm, fuzzy feeling flooded through Charlotte's body and she placed her small, dainty hands, calloused from years in this harsh world behind his head and pulled his face down into a sweet, sensual kiss.

"I love how you just … know what I am thinking, that I don't have to say it. Fuck that sounds super lame, doesn't it?" Charlotte laughed.

Daryl didn't reply, he just tightened his embrace around her.

* * *

"Anything?" Rick said to Maggie and Michonne.

"Naw, everything's been quiet, _too_ quiet if you ask me." Michonne said.

Rick blew out a sigh. "I know, I don't like it, either." He said, craning his head up at the two women as he rested his hands on his hips; he hated this, it was like turning the crank on a Jack in the Box, you _knew_ what was coming, you just didn't know _when._

Michonne watched the old law man leave with a troubled look on her face.

"Negan's just biding his time, he's out there right now, watching us, taking stock of our weaknesses." She said as she turned back toward the darkening forest.

Maggie nodded darkly, she knew it too, she could _feel_ their eyes on them, she involuntarily shivered at the thought of them looking through their rifle scopes at them right now, having them in the crosshairs.

"Do you think this group _has_ weaknesses?" Maggie asked, because they seemed like they were pretty strong to her, they _did_ take out a whole compound of fifty men or more, and that was just with half of their forces.

" _Every_ group has its weaknesses, what sucks is that we ain't gonna see them, but _they_ will." Michonne replied cryptically as she nodded to the forest.

* * *

Charlotte stirred when she felt the bed move, it was pitch black inside their house, she never knew exactly what time it was anymore, but if she had to guess, it was about nine at night.

"Tried not to wake you." Daryl's soft, gruff voice came from somewhere in the darkness.

"Watch duty?" Charlotte slurred as she turned toward the direction his voice had come from.

"Yeah, Rick's got every able body takin' shifts." Daryl said, Charlotte's vision finally adjusted enough for her to see his scruffy outline, backlit against what little ambient light filtered in through the window, which wasn't much since tonight was the first night of the new moon.

"Still feel like shit?" Daryl asked, his voice laced with concern as he sat down next to her on the bed.

"Yeah, but at least I ain't tossin' my cookies anymore." Charlotte said as she rubbed her forehead.

Though, that might also be because she hadn't eaten anything substantial in four days, too. Daryl hesitated, his intense blue eyes strangely visible in the darkness.

Sensing his inner turmoil, Charlotte put her hand over his.

"Just go, Daryl. Rick needs every able person he can get, I'll be fine, I promise. It'll take more than a little bug to kill my tough old ass." She said as she managed a smile, which was lopsided, due to the swelling in her face.

"Besides, you know me, I'm always packin'." She said as she slipped her desert eagle out from under her pillow.

Daryl chuckled. "You're one bad ass chick, ya' know that?" he said as he brushed the hair out of her face.

"So I have been told, now get your ass out of here." She ordered.

* * *

"Hey, china man, how's everything?" Daryl said as he and Rick came to relieve Glenn and Carl.

"Quiet, just like it's been every night." Glenn said as he and Carl handed Daryl and Rick their rifles and binoculars.

"Just be careful, dad, I hate how quiet it's been, I have a terrible feeling something's going to happen." Carl said as he put a hand on his father's shoulder.

"I know son, I do too." Rick said as he blew out a sigh.

"You two go and get some sleep, eh? Ya'll look like hell." Daryl quipped.

Glenn and Carl laughed and shook their heads in response as they headed off towards their respective houses.

* * *

Charlotte awoke with a start in the quiet darkness drenched in a cold sweat, from both the fever, and from the nightmare she had been having. She couldn't even remember what it had been about, exactly, she had had so many of them since all of this shit started that they all seemed to run together.

Suddenly, her keen ears picked up the sounds of a commotion outside, so she hadn't been just dreaming it after all, adrenaline suddenly coursed through her and she reached for her desert eagle at her side.

It was then she felt the cold steel of a pistol pressed at her temple, and the metallic click of a hammer being cocked echoed through the silent bedroom.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, missy. Please don't make me splatter your pretty brains all over this bed, that's not how I want to do it, but I will if you make me." She recognized the voice as Negan's.

"My, my, you're a sight for sore eyes, aren't you?" He said as he shone his flashlight in her face and looked her over with surprisingly gentility.

"You have your people to thank for that." She replied, her tone cold and callus, her gaze never wavering from his.

"Well, they had their reasons. Now get dressed, we're going on a little stroll." Negan replied.

* * *

As the battle outside raged on, Rick, his group, and the Alexandrians were gaining the upper hand against the saviors, who had once again, grossly underestimated their adversary.

Rick, Daryl, Glenn, Michonne and Abraham had broken off into a group and were taking out Saviors in rapid succession. Suddenly, Abraham stopped in his tracks so abruptly that the others bumped into him.

"Oh … shit!" He cursed, Rick followed his gaze and his stomach came to reside in his feet as panic rose in him.

It was Negan standing on one of their guard platforms … and he was holding Charlotte hostage; Rick didn't have much of a chance to think, however because he had to grab Daryl as he let out a bellow like an angry bull and made to charge towards Negan in a blind rage that would have certainly resulted in both his and Charlotte's deaths.

Negan put his fingers to his lips and gave a long shrill whistle; everyone grew silent and turned toward him, the Saviors did so because of loyalty, the Alexandrians did so because they were afraid of what would happen to their friend if they didn't.

"Behold what I have here!" He said, his voice taking on a dramatic air as he shoved Charlotte in front of him. The mere sight of this man's hands on her drove Daryl mad with rage and it now took the combined efforts of Rick and Abraham to hold him back as he writhed and twisted like an angry animal and screamed various obscenities at Negan and what he was going to do to him if he harmed her.

"Now …" Negan said as he walked casually down the stairs of the tower with Charlotte in front of him; Charlotte, too sick and weak to fight back, had no other choice but to allow him to lead her around like a captive animal on display.

He slowly and deliberately sauntered up to Rick, his hand on Charlotte's shoulder, guiding her; he stopped, leaving about ten feet of distance between them.

"You and your group have cost me a lot over these last few months." He said as he pointed his bat, Lucille at Rick. "And the time has come for you to pay up." He added as he pushed Charlotte onto her knees in front of him.

"Take me instead, you asshole. If you gotta kill someone, kill ME!" Daryl bellowed as he fought against Rick and Abraham's hold.

A sickeningly charming smile crept its way across Negan's face. "Now why would I ever do that? I have been watching your group for a while, I _know_ what she means to you, that you love her. So it makes more sense to leave you _alive_ so you can replay this event in your mind every day for however long you have left on this hell on earth." He said with a chuckle, his eyes twinkling cruelly as he raised the bat above Charlotte's head.

Charlotte's gaze met Daryl's and she mouthed _'I love you'_ to him as tears began to stream down her face. Daryl's legs gave out, and he fell to his knees, almost pulling Rick and Abraham down with him, the woman he loved was going to be beaten to death right in front of him and there was nothing he could do.

"NO!" The word came out as a strangled cry as hot tears of pain and anguish streamed down his handsome face.

Charlotte shook her head in despair as she averted her gaze from his, unable to bear seeing him in so much pain, she couldn't believe this was how it was going to end for them, and her heart ached for the pain Daryl was going to endure. she blew out a breath, closed her eyes, and waited for the impact of Negan's bat against her skull, knowing it would probably be a slow and painful death.

"WAIT!" a voice rang out over the crowd, he was Glenn.

"Take me instead, kill me. I am an important member of the group, I have been with them since the beginning, my death would be as equally as painful as hers, maybe even more." He said as he strode forward without an inkling of hesitation, his face was stony and without emotion.

"Glenn, _no_!" Maggie said, tears streaming down her face as she tried to stop him, he turned to her.

"I'm sorry, Maggie, but I have to do this, for Daryl and Charlotte, and for our baby. If this is what it's going to take to being about a truce, then so be it. Remember, I love you, I will always love you, and if it turns out that there is a heaven, I'll wait for you there, no matter how long it takes." He said as he gave her one final kiss before walking up to Negan.

"The husband of the pregnant wife! Yes, yes, I do like this better indeed!" He said as he hauled Charlotte up and pushed her toward Daryl, who wasted no time enveloping her in a protective embrace.

Rosita put her arms around Maggie's shoulders as she sobbed hysterically.

"Don't think this is personal, it's just business." Negan hissed into Glenn's ear as he smashed his head with swing after vicious swing from Lucille.

Maggie couldn't watch and buried her face in Rosita's shoulder, sobbing while the rest of the group looked on, too horrified to look away.

"Let this be a lesson to you who the _real_ ramrod is around here." He said as he pointed Lucille, now dripping with Glenn's blood at Rick, who held his gaze as angry tears streamed down his weathered face.

Negan then turned and left without another word, his Saviors obediently followed.

Rick's trembling hand hovered over his 357, wanting so badly to avenge Glenn's death here and now, but the rational voice advised against it and his hand dropped to his side.

Maggie dropped to her knees next to Glenn's body, sobbing uncontrollably.

Through his stupor of grief and thirst for revenge, Rick felt someone nudge him, he turn to see Abraham, who jerked his head toward Glenn's body, Rick nodded in understanding and they both stepped forward. Through her own tears, Rosita moved a sobbing Maggie out of the way as Rick and Abraham picked up his body as gently as they possibly could and carried him toward the cemetery.

* * *

Everyone stood around the fresh grave in Alexandria's small cemetery, as the first rays of light dawned over the mountains; the morning was oddly beautiful, rays from the sunrise painted a stunning mosaic of various pinks, oranges and yellows across the mountain sky.

Deanna stepped forward and cleared her throat.

"I didn't know Glenn as well as some of you here, but I do know that he was a good man, he always volunteered to go out on scouting missions with my sons because he knew that it made me feel better knowing that he, or Daryl was with them. Now I have talked with Maggie, and she wanted to read some verses from the bible, but, regrettably, it was too painful for her, so she asked me if I would do it." She said as she dug a small bible out of the pocket of her coat and cleared her throat.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord." She finished as she closed the small bible and tucked it away.

Various members of Alexandria, and members of Rick's group did signs of respect as dictated by their followed faith before the crowd gradually started to disperse for the day in lieu of their scheduled activities and duties. Death did not stop the earth from turning, it carried on, and so must they, as well.

Maggie was the last to leave; she lingered at Glenn's grave, silent tears streaming down her face. Michonne came up behind her and put her arm around her shoulders.

"Come on, girl, I have a shitload of things to do today, and I could use the help, and _you_ could use the distraction instead of sittin' in that empty house all by yourself." She said, Maggie nodded numbly as she allowed herself to be led away, but not before pausing to lay a Cherokee rose against Glenn's headstone.

* * *

 _Notes: and there you have it, folks, another volume is complete! I decided to end this volume here partly because I will be getting super busy in the coming spring and summer months, and I don't know when I will be able to write again, I also don't want them to get too terribly long, not like the first one, which was over seventy chapters! Wow! Since then, I have tried to make them shorter, so they are more reader friendly._

 _Thank you to everyone who followed, faved, and reviewed this series so far, you guys rock! Like I said this is NOT the end, not by a long shot, I just will be taking a hiatus for a while, maybe work on some of my other stories that I have been grossly neglecting._

 _Until next time!_


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